Wing Commander Omega
by JP McClendon
Summary: The crew of the TCS Palau is sent on a mission to find an old friend, Cristopher Blair. Now Complete. Please R&R!!!
1. Prologue

**Author's note:** This is only a fanfic. Origin owns the Wing Commander universe and all the characters contained therein, save the characters and ships that were created for this fanfic, those belong to me. That said, I hope you all enjoy the story. Please review.

**Prologue**

Commodore Todd "Maniac" Marshall stood on the bridge staring out of the main window of the TCS _Palau_. Almost ten years had passed since the Bugs arrived and Blair had disappeared. Now the latest intelligence reports were claiming that they had picked up what could be a message from Blair in the T'rewinst system deep inside Bug Territory. However, all the top brass felt that it could just be a trick by the Bugs to lure ConFed ships to their deaths. Still, Maniac wanted to be sure. He had flown too many missions with Blair to just let this go. If anyone was going to check out whether or not this message was for real, it was going to be the Maniac.

Elsewhere, the seven rookie pilots that made up Omega Squadron were assembled in Colonel Franklin's office standing at attention. Colonel Franklin looked pissed.

"What the HELL is wrong with you all?" he demanded of them. A few of them winced at his tone. "The Station Admiral wants you all thrown in the brig for that little stunt you pulled at the ceremony today. You do not, I repeat do NOT do an up-and-down vertical proximity flyby of a station in Wasps while their booster packs are engaged. You could have killed not only yourselves, but the majority of the top brass in this sector. That's the first thing. The second is, how many times have you all been warned not to wear that damn patch on your flight suits?"

"Sir," said their Wing Commander.

"What, Lieutenant?" snapped Colonel Franklin.

"Sir, you said you wanted something special to show the Admiral, something they have never seen before, Sir," said the Lieutenant. "Sir, we were just following your orders and suggestions, Sir. Sir, and as for the patch, sir, I repeat my previous statement that it is simply a sign of unity amongst our squadron to promote good morale, SIR."

"First of all, my orders did not include breaking some of the strictest rules regarding fighter operation," returned the Colonel. "And second the patch is not regulation issue of ConFed. However, I'm not going to throw any of you in the brig and all of this will be overlooked, for now."

"Sir?" the pilots all replied in unison in stunned disbelief.

"That's right," the Colonel said almost bitterly. "Since you yahoos are the only pilots to ever operate the new Cobra class fighters outside of simulators, you are the only ones qualified to take them on their first real mission."

The pilots stared at one another in total silence.

"The TCS _Riker_ is a cargo transport," began the Colonel. "It will be carrying fourteen, the ONLY fourteen, Cobras to a rendezvous point in the G'renll sector where you will meet up with the TCS _Palau_ commanded by Commodore Todd Marshall. Once there you will fly ALL the Cobras over to the _Palau_ and then report aboard as a part of its fighter contingent. This is an important assignment, boys and girls. Don't screw it up. Understood?"

"Yes, SIR!" the pilots responded in perfect unison.

"Very well," said the Colonel. "Dismissed!"

The pilots all saluted and silently turned and marched towards the door to the office. "And one more thing," the Colonel said stopping them, "Best luck, to all of you."

Once they were out the door the Colonel sat down at his desk and folded his hands in contemplation. "I just hope that luck is all they'll need," he said as he turned his chair to face the darkness of space outside his window.

**To be continued…**


	2. Heading Out

**Heading Out**

"You mean you're letting me go out and get him?" asked Maniac to the Fleet Admiral.

"Yes, Commodore," said the Admiral. "If the message is indeed from Commodore Blair then you are authorized to use whatever means necessary to bring him home."

"Yes, Sir!" Maniac said enthusiastically and turned to leave.

"One more thing, Commodore," the Admiral said to stop him. "You are to head to the G'renll sector first."

"What for?" whined Maniac. "That will take the _Palau_ 72 hours out of its way and the quickest route from there will take us through heavy bug territory. What's in G'renll?"

"Your newest crew additions."

"My what?"

"In order to help you complete your mission," began the Admiral. "You're being given all fourteen of the new Cobra Class fighters and all seven of the pilots qualified to fly them."

"All fourteen and all seven?" inquired Maniac.

"That's right, Commodore. There are only fourteen Cobras in existence at this time and only seven pilots in existence at this time capable of taking them into a fight. And YOU are getting them all. Try to bring them back in one piece."

"The pilots or the fighters?" asked Maniac.

"Both, Commodore, both," concluded the Admiral with a smile that made Maniac's skin crawl.

"Yes, sir," Maniac said and then promptly left for the transport pod that would take him back to the _Palau_.

* * *

The pilots of Omega Squad were rushing to get their gear packed and to the _Riker_ before its departure. They remained silent through it all and even avoided eye contact with one another. Finally one of them broke the silence.

"You all know what this assignment means, right?" he asked.

"Yes, Tracer," said another pilot who was carefully packed a large chest with alcohol. "It means that we're finally going to see some real action near the front instead staying back here playing with simulators and dummy ships."

"NO, that's not what it means," shouted Tracer almost hysterically. "This assignment is Special Ops. That means extra danger, and that means we're all supposed to die."

"Calm down you silly git," one of the female pilots said. "You're just imagining way beyond the worst."

"Am I, Princess?" Tracer asked.

"Well, that all considered there are two things I know," said the one who was packing the alcohol. "The first is that it means more alcohol will be needed. The second is that our Kill Board scores will soar fast."

"One thing I know as well," began another one of the female pilots. "Is that we each only get to eject once. After that, we go down with the ship." She winked at Tracer who was by now a wreck.

"C'mon, Tracer," said the Wing Commander placing his hand on Tracer's shoulder. "You know that we're the best pilots in our class, because otherwise they wouldn't have asked us to enter the Cobra training program. You'll feel better once you're back in the cockpit. Besides, none of us would allow another squad member to crash and burn."

Tracer took a deep breath and nodded his head in agreement. "You're right," he said. "I guess I just got the jitters being this is our first real assignment."

"Now that's the Tracer we all know and love," said the pilot who was packing the alcohol. With that he grabbed Tracer by the sides of the head and gave him a big kiss on the forehead. "Now let's all get out of here before the _Riker_ leaves without us."

Without any further word they finished packing and headed for the launch bay where the _Riker_ was waiting for them.

**To be continued…**


	3. All Aboard

**All Aboard**

Three days later the _Riker_ was finally in the G'renll system. Almost instantly they were greeted by the voice of the communications officer of the _Palau_.

"This is the TCS _Palau_, please identify yourself," came the voice from the _Palau_.

"This is Captain Nathan Barnes of the TCS _Riker_," said Barnes into his comm. "We are here to deliver fourteen ships and seven pilots."

"That's an affirmative, Captain," said the communications officer. "We're ready when you are."

"Thank you _Palau_," said Captain Barnes. "Helm, move us into docking range."

"Aye, sir," said the helmsman. With that the helmsman began piloting the _Riker_ into a docking orbit with the _Palau_.

Meanwhile, down in the rec room, the members of Omega Squadron were looking out the window staring at the _Palau_ in amazement. "She's big," said one of the female pilots.

"By my estimate," began another pilot. "She's one and a half times the size of a standard carrier."

Tracer whistled his astonishment. "That's big," he said.

"Indeed," spoke the Wing Commander. "Okay, let's stop staring and get to work. Pack your gear, get suited up, and begin your pre-flight sequences. I want us to be able to launch once we are fully docked."

A few groans went up among the pilots, but they set about their task with speed and efficiency. Most of them had had the foresight to pack their second ship with their gear soon after they had departed the space station so that they had very little preparations to actually take care of. As a result, they were all in their respective cockpits waiting to launch by the time the _Riker_ had finished its docking maneuvers.

"Omega Squadron to the bridge," began the Wing Commander. "Permission to take out the first set of fighters."

"Permission granted," came the voice of the Captain of the _Riker_.

"Thank you, Captain," said the Wing Commander. "Okay everyone, go for launch."

With that the entire squad flew out of the hangar bay, got into formation, and flew towards the stern of the _Palau_. After they passed the _Palau_ by about 4000 meters they swung around and came to face the _Palau_. "This is Omega Squadron requesting permission to land," spoke the Wing Commander.

"This is the _Palau_, permission granted."

"Thank you," said the Wing Commander. "Okay everyone, time to dock. Stay in formation until we reach 1500 meters."

The rest of the squadron signaled their acknowledgement. Silently they guided their fighters into the hangar bays of the _Palau_. Once landed they got out and strode over to one of the cargo shuttles that had come over from the _Riker_ delivering ordinance for the Cobras. They had made arrangements with the pilot of the shuttle to take them back to the _Riker_ so that they could get their second set of Cobras over to the _Palau_. They all sat down and waited for the shuttle to take off. Tracer removed his helmet and popped a stick of gum in his mouth. They waited patiently for the shuttle to return to the _Riker_. Their trip was almost over, and though none of them would admit it aloud, they were nervous about what was to come.

When they finally got back to the hangar bay of the _Riker_, they made their good-byes to the crew and jumped into their second set of Cobras. Once seated, the Wing Commander requested permission to disembark. Once they had the green light for launch they headed out and repeated their in formation flyby of the _Palau_. After turning about again, the Wing Commander again requested permission to land. Once that too was granted again they flew into the hangar bay.

Safely landed in the hangar bar, they began the shutdown process for their Cobras. Once that was done, the low sound of their cockpit hatches opening could be heard. They removed their helmets and looked around. They all noticed that the hangar bay of the _Palau_ was neater and busier than the spaceport they had been stationed at. Silently they all climbed from their cockpits and retrieved their gear.

On the Bridge, Commander Patricia Drake was looking at a monitor. The display of the monitor showed the Omega Squadron unpacking their gear. She felt that it was time to introduce herself to the Omega Squadron and make it crystal clear as to what was expected of them.

**To be continued…**


	4. The CAG

**The CAG**

The Omega Squad had finished unpacking their Cobras and were heading towards a lift that would take them to the bunk deck. When they were about five feet from the lift a side door opened and an older woman with long brown hair came out. They spotted her rank insignia instantly and snapped to attention and the Wing Commander said, "Commander on the Deck!"

Drake walked over to them and looked the Wing Commander in the eyes. "I am Commander Patricia Drake," she began. "The CAG."

A few of the pilots exchanged "Oh, shit!" looks with one another and Tracer swallowed his gum. Drake had a cold frown on her face. Clearly she meant all business. "Rank, name, and callsign," she barked.

The Wing Commander spoke first. "Second Lieutenant Johnson, Michael N. Callsign, Rapier."

The pilot who had been carting all the alcohol spoke next. "Second Lieutenant Baker, Thomas R. Callsign, Waborita."

"Waborita?" inquired Drake.

"Yes, ma'am," said Waborita.

"Next," said Drake.

One of the Female pilots spoke next. "Second Lieutenant West, Cassandra V. Callsign, Bitch."

Drake raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued, but still displeased.

A second female pilot was next. "Second Lieutenant Tolwyn, Kimberly C. Callsign, Princess."

"Tolwyn?" inquired Drake. "As in Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Princess plainly. "He was my uncle."

"Next."

It was Tracer's turn now. "Second Lieutenant Sinclair, Jacob J. Callsign, Tracer."

The pilot who had estimated the size of the _Palau_ spoke. "Second Lieutenant Patrick, Duncan R. Callsign, Midnight."

The last female pilot was the final one to speak. "Second Lieutenant Pepper, Ariel M. Callsign, Chameleon."

Drake walked up and down their row, visually examining them. Once she was satisfied she stood in front of Rapier and looked him in the eyes again. "We have a long way to go to get to our final destination," she said. "You will be the squad most directly responsible for keeping the Bugs away. You screw up and I'll have your asses in the brig faster than you can blink. Understood?" Her gaze never broke from Rapier's.

"Yes, SIR!" the entire Omega Squadron spoke in unison.

"Good," continued Drake. "Now get your gear stowed in your quarters and meet me and the Commodore in pilot country in one hour. Dismissed!"

The Omega Squadron saluted and got into the lift.

In the lift Waborita spoke first. "And I thought they called you Bitch," he said to West.

"Save it, Wabo," said Rapier. "We'll only have to deal with her before and after missions. Our real trouble will come from their other squadron commanders."

The lift opened to the crew quarters deck. They found their assigned bunks with no trouble and quickly stowed their things. Once finished they all got back into the lift and headed for pilot country.

**To be continued…**


	5. Pilot Country

**Pilot Country**

The lift quickly sped them to the rec deck.

"Why would she want us to meet her in pilot country?" asked Chameleon.

Before anyone could answer, Midnight spoke, "That is where all the simulators are. She wants to see what kind of pilots we really are. The simulators will tell her, and the Commodore." The doors to the lift opened with a whisper and directly across from them was a hand painted sign. It read: Welcome to Pilot Country, Enter at Your Own Risk!

"My kind of place," said Wabo.

"Mine, too," said Tracer.

Rapier grabbed Midnight by the arm as they were leaving the lift. "Get this ship's specs on the Cobra," he said. "If she truly means to test us in the simulators, I want to make sure that they are not running with outdated info."

"Gotcha," replied Midnight.

They walked in like they owned the place and looked around. It was bigger than pilot country on most ships. Its bar was longer, it had more tables, and a lot more simulators. This place was meant for serious steam blowing. They searched the area for the CAG and when they didn't find her they all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Midnight slipped off to look at the tactical display, Princess, Bitch, and Tracer went to look at the Kill Board, Wabo and Chameleon went to the bar, and Rapier headed to the simulators.

Midnight frowned at what he saw on the tactical display. The information in the database on the Cobras was dangerously outdated. Silently he moved off to inform Rapier.

Chameleon sat down at a barstool and rested her arms on the bar. Wabo walked around the bar, looked into the mirror behind the bar, and brought up two shot glasses. He looked about for a moment and then swiftly drew a hip flask from one of his pockets. He poured some of the contents into the shot glasses and set them by the mirror.

"What was that all about?" asked Chameleon.

"That's for all the fallen pilots," replied Wabo. "The first one is for all the pilots who have died before now, and the second is for all those who die after."

A pair of hands began rubbing Chameleon's shoulders. Wabo looked on amused. The owner of the hands sat down next to Chameleon. "Ah, the drink for the dead," he said. "I know that one all too well. Oh, where are my manners? Welcome to the _Palau_. I'm Major Max Garrett, better known as…"

"The Maestro," interrupted Wabo.

"Oh, you know me?" asked Maestro.

"Only by reputation," said Wabo. "You're the guy who wrote the cadet tech manual on how to pickle your own liver."

"That's me!" said Maestro holding out his hand.

"Pleasure to meet such a legend," said Wabo taking his hand and shaking it. "I'm Lt. Baker, but you can call me Waborita, or Wabo for short. And this lovely young lady is Lt. Pepper, better known as the Chameleon."

"It is my profound pleasure to meet you both," said Maestro. "Tell me, Wabo, do you know how to make your name?"

"They wouldn't call me Waborita if I didn't."

"I am your humble servant," Maestro said, making a bowing motion.

Bitch and Princess were reading the names on the Kill Board. There were three squadrons listed. The first was the Diamondback Squadron, the second was the Black Widow Squadron, and the last was Omega Squadron. In all there were 67 pilots aboard. Tracer licked his chops as he eyed the top spot on the Kill Board.

Rapier was not happy about the news Midnight had given him. He motioned to Bitch to come over so that he could give her the bad news.

"It would seem that we have more knowledge about our own ships than even the CAG," he began.

"Don't tell me, they got the old tech data?" asked Bitch.

"Older," said Midnight. "The specs in the tactical display go back to before Cobras got the booster pack upgrade."

"Oh, that's just wonderful," Bitch said in disgust. "Shit."

"Shit is right," said Rapier. "Midnight, check the simulator, see if they are just as outdated. Bitch, tell Princess and Tracer the bad news. I'll handle Wabo and Chameleon."

"Right," said Bitch and walked off.

Midnight nodded and quietly slipped into the closest empty simulator.

Suddenly the CAG walked in and the familiar 'Officer on the deck!' was heard.

Everyone snapped to attention. Midnight slowly slid from the simulator and stood at attention.

"As you were," said Commodore Marshall.

Everyone relaxed and went back to what they were doing. Drake walked over to the simulators with Maniac. "Omega Squadron, front and center!" she barked.

The members of Omega Squadron assembled from the various points in pilot country and stood at attention in front of Drake and Maniac. "So these are the newest ple…I mean rookies," he said. "Which one of you is the squadron commander?"

"Sir, I am, sir," said Rapier.

Maniac walked over to Rapier and looked him in the face. "Welcome to the _Palau_," Maniac said and held out his hand.

"Thank you, sir," Rapier said shaking the Commodore's hand.

"Well, now that introductions have been completed," began Drake. "Why don't you all step into the simulators and show us what you've got?"

"Begging the CAG's pardon," interrupted Midnight.

"Here we go," said Bitch. Rapier silenced her with a glare.

"What is it Lieutenant?" asked Drake. "Is there a problem with my order?"

"Permission to speak freely and candidly, ma'am," said Midnight.

"Always," Maniac interrupted, which elicited a silent curse from Drake.

"Sirs, the tactical data that you have on the Cobra is incorrect and obsolete in both your simulators and tactical database," began Midnight. "With all due respect we cannot fully show you our skills if the simulators are inaccurate."

This had Maniac's interest peaked. "Explain what you mean, Lieutenant," he said.

Midnight looked to Rapier and Rapier just shrugged. Returning his gaze to Maniac, Midnight closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began, "A Cobra fighter no longer has mass drivers, but instead two ion cannons. It also now has four laser cannons instead of two. A 3000 round Stormfire gun has also been added in addition to four multi-target missiles."

"Is that all?" asked Maniac, who was getting flustered.

"No, sir."

"Continue."

"It also carries not eight, but ten friend-or-foe missiles, and eight, not six, infrared missiles. In addition…"

"There's still more?" interrupted Maniac.

"Yes, sir," said Midnight.

"What else?"

"Its maximum throttle speed is 675 meters per second, not 600. The maximum afterburner speed is 1450 meters per second, not 1275. And it has the ability to mount two booster packs in place of the multi-target missiles so that it can be used as an interceptor. The booster packs give it a 3,500 meters per second maximum speed."

"Anything else?"

"No, sir. I'm done."

Drake looked extremely pissed. "Do you have any means of backing up these statements, Lieutenant?" she said. Rapier was not fond of the way she was referring to him by his rank, as if it might change at any moment. He felt the need to interject.

"Commander and Commodore," he interrupted. Both Drake and Maniac looked at him. "The proof of his statements are all sitting in the fighter bay. With your permission, I would happily show the both of you that he is correct."

"Please do, Lieutenant," said Drake.

With that, Drake, Maniac, and Rapier all went to the fighter bay so that Rapier could prove that Midnight was telling the truth. There was silence in pilot country. Everyone had heard what Midnight said. A few people shook their heads as if some great sin had been committed.

About fifteen minutes later, Rapier, the CAG, and Maniac came back in. Drake walked right up to Midnight. "It would appear, Lieutenant," she said. "That our tactical database is a bit outdated. You were correct on every detail. Therefore, beginning at 0700 tomorrow morning, you and the Chief Maintenance Technician will go about updating. Once that has been done, then you will all show us what you can do. Am I understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," replied Midnight.

"Very well. Carry on."

With that, the CAG turned about and walked right out of pilot country. Silence still filled the air. Then, with no warning, all the pilots let out a loud cheer. Maniac just smiled, gave Midnight the thumbs up signal, and walked out. Rapier and Midnight shook hands and headed for the bar. Wabo stepped back behind the bar and produced a rectangular bottle. He set up seven shot glasses with the omega letter on it and poured the bottle. Each member of the Omega Squadron took their shot glass and Wabo proposed a toast. "To Midnight and Rapier," he said. "Pilots with more balls than brains!" Everyone in pilot country tossed back their drinks.

Maestro walked up and patted both Midnight and Rapier on the shoulder and said, "You guys are gonna fit right in here with us."

**To be continued…**


	6. Nest of Cobras

**Nest of Cobras**

Rapier rolled out of his bunk the next morning and staggered to the bathroom. Tracer was in there brushing his teeth. He looked like Hell. The door to one of the shower stalls opened and Bitch stepped out wearing a towel and sunglasses. "Morning," she managed to mumble as she staggered back to the main room.

"Where are the others?" Rapier asked.

Tracer just shrugged. "Dunno," he replied.

"Princess is down at the mess hall," Bitch said. "Wabo and Chameleon are with Major Garrett getting the grand tour."

"And what about Midnight?" asked Rapier.

"Haven't seen him since last night," said Tracer. "He probably never left pilot country."

"Figures," said Rapier.

Suddenly a proximity alarm sounded and a voice came over the squawk box, "All pilots to your ships. This is not a drill. Repeat all pilots to your ships. We have enemy inbound."

"Time to turn and burn," Tracer said grabbing his flightsuit.

"And so it begins," Bitch said grabbing a pair of underwear and a T-shirt, putting them on, and dropping the towel. Then she grabbed her flightsuit and hurriedly put it on.

Rapier was down the hall already and sprinting for a lift to the flight deck. Tracer and Bitch barely caught up with him before the door to the lift closed. The lift sped down to the flight deck where pilots and maintenance crews alike were scrambling about.

They turned the corner to head to their Cobras and saw Waborita and Princess arguing with a maintenance tech. "What's going on?" Rapier demanded. "Why aren't you two outbound yet?"

"Because this jackass won't load the full ordinance for our Cobras!" shouted Princess who was glaring at the tech over Rapier's shoulder.

"This true?" demanded Rapier of the tech.

"Hey, it says eight and six, friend-or-foe and infrared," began the tech. "And no Stormfire rounds."

"What!" shouted Princess. "Are you that fucking stupid? What do you think those outer missile rigs are for? And why else would we have a Stormfire gun? For show?"

"Lieutenant," shouted the tech to Rapier. "I am just going by the tactical readout. According to my data, the fighters are loaded properly."

"We don't have the time for this!" yelled Bitch as she climbed into her cockpit and began her countdown. "Screw the damn extra ordinance! Pretend it's got a wild weasel load and let's go!"

The rest of the squad silently nodded and climbed into their Cobras. Within moments they were taxiing down the runway towards the launch bay. Once they were finally in flight two more Cobras joined them in formation.

"Where the hell have you guys been?" asked Midnight. "Chameleon and I have been circling for almost five minutes."

"I'll explain later," said Rapier, obviously pissed. "Right now, protect the _Palau_. Form up on my wing and as soon as we got one in range, break and attack."

"Copy that, Omega One," said Tracer.

"Affirmative," said Chameleon.

"Roger," said Wabo. "You guys remember the rules? Last one to bag a bad guy takes an extra shot. Anyone who tags an ace causes all the others to take an extra shot."

"I hear that," said Bitch.

"Okay people stay focused, here they come," said Rapier.

"I make seven bombers, thirteen fighters, and two aces in our flight path," reported Princess.

"Break and attack!" Rapier ordered.

Silently the squadron broke up and maneuvered to engage their respective targets. With no warning their COMM's chirped an incoming message from one of the Bug aces. "You see your death, humans!" it hissed.

"Man, even their voices are ugly!" shouted Wabo who broke into a diving barrel roll barely dodging laser fire from a bug fighter. "This has got to stop!" With that he hit the afterburners and rolled through his dive back towards the bug. The bug was only just beginning its dive towards him. Wabo opened up with full guns and blasted the belly of the bug fighter, which burst into countless pieces. "Toasted!" he said and aimed for his next target.

Chameleon meanwhile had picked up a shadow in the form of one of the bug aces while she was targeting one of the bombers. Her fighter shook as the bug lasers struck her aft shields. "This will not do!" she yelled over her comms. "Midnight! Take this bomber, I have to have a conversation with the ace."

"Affirmative, Chameleon."

Chameleon hit the afterburners and put distance between her and the ace. "Run, HUMAN!" came its voice as it pursued.

Chameleon zeroed the throttle and did a flat 180-degree spin and kicked the throttle back into maximum, charging the ace. "Die, bug!" she yelled as she opened up on him with two friend-or-foe missiles that caught him straight on. The ace's ship rocked and tried to break away. Chameleon just opened up on his bow with full guns. The two missiles had so severely damaged the front of his ship that he began to break up when he was hit by the guns. Chameleon kicked her Cobra into full afterburner and plowed right through his exploding debris field. "You guys all owe me an extra shot!"

"Man, her first time out and she tags an ace," said Bitch who effortlessly ripped one of the bug bombers in half with a missile.

Tracer, meanwhile, was running down the other ace, patiently picking at its aft shields. When his shields were sufficiently weakened he smiled and switched to his infrared missiles. "This bug needs an enema," he said and launched a missile. The ace popped off a decoy, but the missile was not fooled. The missile impacted and the bug sent a hiss back at Tracer as its ship exploded. With that the last of the bugs involved in the attack were destroyed. Rapier and Midnight had taken care of most of the field themselves. Midnight destroyed five of the seven engaging bombers and Rapier had taken down an equal number of fighters.

"Okay, everyone," Rapier said. "Form on my wing and return to the _Palau_."

"And pilot country," said Waborita.

"Amen to that," said Chameleon.

"Omega Squadron to the _Palau_," said Rapier. "Requesting permission to come home."

"Permission granted Omega Squadron. The CAG wants to see you when you get in."

"Roger that," responded Rapier.

"Great, she probably wants to tell us to get the job done faster next time," said Princess.

The Cobras flew into the hangar and landed. As they were getting out Midnight noticed that the CAG was waiting by the debriefing station. He nudged Rapier so that he would notice her standing there. Silently they walked as a group towards the debriefing station. Drake had displeased look on her face. "Lieutenant Johnson," she began. "You and your whole squadron took a great risk launching without a full ordinance load. Also, I hear that a few members of your squadron yelled at a maintenance technician for not having the Cobras fully loaded. Is that true?"

"Yes, ma'am," responded Rapier. "Every word of it."

"This may come as a shock to you Lieutenant, but you do not own those fighters. ConFed owns them. You are simply the pilot. If you have a problem with the manner in which those fighters are maintained then you come to me, you don't try to solve the matter yourself. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good," Drake continued. "I am going to overlook the matter this time because of what you all did out there. Just try not to let it happen again. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

With that, Drake walked off to let them use the debriefing console. But before she got too far away she turned and looked back at Rapier. "One last thing, Lieutenant," she said.

"Ma'am?"

"You all did a great job out there. Keep up the good work."

"Thank you, ma'am," replied Rapier. "We won't let you down."

Drake just smiled and walked away. Maybe she is not as bad as I thought, Rapier said silently to himself as he pushed the buttons on the debriefing panel.

**To be continued…**


	7. Back in Pilot Country

**Back in Pilot Country**

After debriefing Omega Squadron went back to pilot country to cool off. There were only a few people in there besides them. Waborita moved behind the bar while the rest of Omega Squad lined up on bar stools. He produced another bottle similar to the one they had had last night. Then he lined up the seven Omega shot glasses in a neat row. Behind that row he lined up another row of shot glasses leaving out Chameleon. Behind that row he lined up a third row of shot glasses, this time leaving out Tracer. Then he brought up a single shot glass for Chameleon on a fourth row. She had been the last one among them to bag a bug. When he was satisfied that the arrangement was neat and in order he poured the bottle. A wry smile cracked his lips. "If the bugs don't kill us," he said with a grin. "This will become habit-forming."

Each took his or her respective shot glasses. "To the first combat mission of both the Omega Squadron and the Cobra fighter," Rapier offered in toast.

"Omega Squadron!" they all said at the same time, clinked their glasses, and tossed the contents back like it was water. Those who had to do subsequent shots did so in rapid succession and slammed their shot glasses down on the bar.

"We are dangerous!" Chameleon said after slamming back her last shot.

"We are indeed," said Midnight. "Now, I hate to drink and run, but I have to have that update finished for the CAG ASAP."

"Party pooper," Chameleon said and poured herself another shot.

"Careful with that stuff girl," Waborita warned. "In another life this stuff was paint thinner." Then he unabashedly poured himself a shot as well and they tossed them back together.

At the same time Princess, Bitch, and Tracer moved off to check the Kill Board while Rapier went to the head. They pushed the access button to the Omega Squadron panel and looked at their standings. Midnight was at the top of the list followed by Rapier. Bitch and Princess followed respectively. Next came Chameleon, followed by Tracer, and last was Wabo.

"Well, that figures," Tracer said turning off the panel.

"What's the matter?" Princess ribbed. "Upset that you aren't top dog yet?"

"He'll get over it," Bitch said after punching Tracer in the arm.

At the bar Chameleon and Waborita were down to the last few drops in the bottle. "Dead Soldier," Waborita said looking through the bottom of the bottle.

"And we killed him," Chameleon said with a hiccup.

"Let's go get another one," Waborita suggested.

"Good idea," said Chameleon.

The two of them wrapped their arms about one another and staggered back to their barracks for another bottle. Rapier came back from the head just as they were walking out. "Where're they going?" he asked indicating Waborita and Chameleon.

"They're going out in search of more liquor," said Tracer.

Rapier turned his head to look at the fully stocked self-serve bar. "They need MORE liquor?" he asked.

* * *

In the T'rewinst system a new bug was hatching. He writhed and wriggled trying to break free from his confines until at last he was out and could stand. Though it was hot and humid in the slimy bug nest, his breath was visible. He looked around with new eyes to take in his surroundings. He threw back his head and with his arms outstretched let out such a cold savage yell that it pierced the darkness of space.

**To be continued…**


	8. Blair

**Blair**

The next morning all pilots were summoned to the briefing room. Both the CAG and the Commodore were standing there like statues as the pilots filed in. Once everyone was seated the CAG spoke. "The time has come," she began. "For you all to learn what our mission is. Two weeks ago a ConFed recon craft picked up a transmission originating in the T'rewinst system. After much analysis and deciphering it was determined that the person who sent the transmission was Commodore Christopher Blair."

A general murmur of disbelief went up through the pilots. Maniac frowned and steeled himself. "That's enough people," the CAG continued. "I understand that you are all skeptical, but we don't have the time to second-guess the situation. As yet we do not know what we will be encountering once we reach T'rewinst, but one thing we do know is that it we can expect a lot of enemy resistance. Therefore, from now until we get back to the G'renll sector, we will have four flight wings active at all times instead of two. Your flight schedule will be posted for you in pilot country. I know many of you were not expecting this. But if this message is for real and Commodore Blair is alive, then we owe it to him to bring him home. Dismissed."

With that the pilots all stood and began filing out. The CAG approached Rapier as he was heading for the door. "Lieutenant Johnson," she said.

Rapier turned to face her. "Yes, Ma'am?" he replied.

"Lieutenant Patrick has informed me that the updates to the simulators are complete," she said.

"Are they ma'am?" he replied. "I was not aware."

"I was hoping that you and the rest of Omega Squadron would finally show Commodore Marshall and myself what you can do. If it is no trouble."

No, Ma'am, no trouble at all. We look forward to showing you what we've got."

"Good, then I expect you all in pilot country at 1300 hours."

"Yes, Ma'am,"

"Carry on."

"Yes, Ma'am," Rapier said and saluted.

Once out of the briefing room Rapier joined up with the rest of the Omega Squadron in pilot country. Waborita was mixing waboritas for a lot of people. Tracer was just about to take a shot when Rapier walked passed and took the shot from his hands and handed it off to some random pilot.

"What's that for?" he whined.

"The CAG wants to finally test us in the simulators," Rapier replied. "So we all need to have our game faces on."

"Crap," said Tracer.

Rapier walked over to the bar where Wabo had just finished making the last of the waboritas and was about to make a toast. "Hold on a sec," he said putting his glass down. "Rapier, do you want a waborita?"

"No, and neither do you. The CAG is going to test us in the simulators at 1300 hours."

"Damn," said Chameleon who also put down her glass.

"Why does the CAG always have to spoil our fun?" asked Waborita. " I think she hates us."

"That's because she does hate us," said Chameleon.

Bitch and Princess came over to confront Rapier. "What's this crap Tracer's telling us about the CAG?" asked Princess.

"She wants to test us now that Midnight has the simulators working," Rapier responded.

"Y'know," said Bitch. "I can very easily go over to the simulators and break them if you would like."

"That won't be necessary, Bitch," said Rapier. "Look its only one sim and then she'll be off our backs."

"God, I hope so," said Princess. "I'd hate to think that she'd do this to us on a regular basis."

"On a similar note," continued Rapier. "Where's Midnight?"

"Guess," responded Bitch pointing to one of the simulators.

Rapier got an annoyed look on his face and walked over to the simulator that Bitch had pointed towards. He just looked at it and knocked. Within a few seconds the cover to the simulator opened and Midnight looked up at Rapier with an emotionless glance. "You knocked?" Midnight asked.

"You're going to make the rest of us look bad," Rapier said trying not to smile.

"Well, I can't help it if the rest of you aren't up to my standards."

"Your standards? Who's the Wing Commander here?"

"You?"

"That's right," Rapier said giving Midnight a light punch in the arm. "And don't you forget it."

The seven of them gathered around the simulators to discuss the upcoming sim. "Wasn't the fact that we toasted 22 real enemy ships in under ten minutes a good enough indicator for her?" asked Tracer.

"I agree with Tracer," said Chameleon. "We've already more than proved ourselves."

"When did this squad become a bunch of whiny pussies?" asked Rapier. "Do any of you have anything better to do? Anything at all?"

They all looked at one another and they all shook their heads.

"Okay, then," Rapier said. "Then we do this and get it over with. This way, we show her, the Commodore, and every other pilot in here that we are the ones they will have to keep up with. Remember why we dubbed ourselves the Omega Squadron in the first place. WE are the ones who come out on top in the end when the dust settles. WE are the end all be all of everything it means to be an ace pilot. US. At the academy we were the best, no one could top us, no one could stop us. We are here not because ConFed says we are the best, we are here because we ARE the best.

"That's an interesting sentiment, Lieutenant," said one of the pilots from right behind Rapier. "Are you bragging or is that true?"

"He's bragging," said Tracer with a smirk. Bitch just smacked him upside the head. "Ow! What was that for?"

Rapier turned to face the owner of the voice and came face-to-face with a female pilot. She was a blonde in her mid thirties. She had a major's rank insignia and a Black Widow Squad patch on her arm. "Actually, Major," he said almost in a condescending tone. "I wouldn't want to fly without them. When I say they are the best, I mean it."

"Well I think there are few pilots in here who would disagree with you," said the Major. "You are making a very lofty declaration there. Can you back it up?"

"I have utter faith in my squad," he replied. "I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it. Major…"

"Talvert," she responded. "Major Jean Talvert. Wing Commander, Black Widow Squadron. Most people call me Stiletto, you can call me Major."

"Well, Major, if you want to see how good my squadron is, just watch the sim display once the CAG gets here."

"I'll do that."

"Good, then maybe you'll see that the statements I made were facts."

"If the sim proves that your squad is as good as you say it is, then I'll let you start calling me Stiletto."

"Looking forward to it, MAJOR," Rapier concluded. Stiletto just gave him a wry smile and walked back to a group of pilots at the bar.

"That could have been better," said Bitch. "You really know how to piss people off."

"I didn't say it to piss her off," replied Rapier. "I trust every last one of you with my life. I hope that the rest of you have that same trust in one another. Because if you don't, then you shouldn't be flying on each other's wing. End all, be all?" He put out his hand palm facedown.

"End all, be all," said Midnight putting his hand on Rapier's.

"End all, be all," said Bitch, putting her hand on Midnight's.

"End all, be all," said Waborita, putting his hand on Bitch's.

"End all, be all," said Princess, putting her hand on the Waborita's.

"End all, be all," Chameleon, putting her hand on Princess's.

"End all, be all," Tracer said, putting his hand on Chameleon's.

"Are we the best damn squad on the ship?" asked Rapier.

"Yes, Sir!" the rest of the squad replied in unison.

"Are we the best damn squad in ConFed?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir!" they all responded again.

"Are we gonna kick bug ass and save the day?" he asked.

"Yes, SIR!" they responded one more time.

They broke their huddle and headed to the simulators to warm up. Across the way Maestro had a big grin on his face and silently toasted them. He looked at Stiletto. She returned his gaze, smiled, and clinked her drink against his. I like them she thought to herself. They have what it takes.

**To be continued…**


	9. Angel of Death

**The Angel of Death**

A pilot was racing down the hall on the bunk deck towards the barracks. He poked his head in the room long enough to say, "Hey, guys! Get to pilot country! The Omegas are putting on their show for the CAG and the Commodore!" The pilots who were just lounging about on their bunks looked at one another for a brief instant and then scrambled to get up and get to pilot country.

* * *

Casey and Stiletto were sitting at the bar while Maestro and Zero had ringside seats to the action. The Omegas had only been flying in the simulators for about 15 minutes and had already managed to tag close to 40 bugs. Tracer, Chameleon, and Wabo were getting a bit banged up while the others were still flying without a scratch. Bitch charged two Lampreys at full afterburner and buzzed right between them. Then she looped back and blasted them to pieces with her guns. The crowd cheered and applauded. Princess was playing cat-and-mouse with an ace. She began a barrel roll and pulled up hard on the flight stick. She continued her loop and came straight down towards the cockpit of the ace's Devil Ray. She fired a friend-or-foe missile and opened up with full guns until he was dust. The crowd was ecstatic. Elsewhere, Midnight was racing about, being obnoxious to various bugs, and getting them to engage him. They fired upon him, but he just dodged and rolled and came out unharmed. Every so often he would open fire and hit one of the six just enough to keep its attention on him. Then, with no warning, he kicked in his afterburners and sped away from all six of them. The crowd had no clue what he was up to, and some even began murmuring that he was ditching the other members of his squad. The six bugs that he had been picking on gave chase, but were rapidly being left behind. When it looked that Midnight had outrun them he did a 180-degree turn and came charging back at them. People looked at his targeting display to see what he could possibly be up to. Targeting grids came up on all of the bugs that were giving chase and Midnight opened fire with one of his multi-target missiles. The missile broke up into six pieces and impacted on the bows of all six bugs. Midnight simply flew past the new debris field that used to be the six bug fighters.

"That was amazing!" yelled Maestro.

"Very impressive," agreed Zero.

Maniac was genuinely impressed by their performance thus far. "They're okay," he said in that mocking macho tone of his.

Drake, for once, was speechless. She watched enthralled at the job these pilots were doing. They flew like seasoned veterans and were totally fearless. More than that, they flew as a team. If one was in trouble, another lended support instantly. They seemed totally unconcerned with the amount of enemy ships surrounding them, or what they had to get through to help another teammate. She wished she could hear what they were saying to one another to keep themselves alert and motivated. Maybe they were as good as they bragged they were, or better.

* * *

The crowd continued to cheer for them each time they tagged a bug ship. It was forty-five minutes in and they still were flying like they owned the skies. The bugs had gotten in few good shots. People began to think that only time and endurance would slow them down. They were all dangerously low on missiles by this time, their afterburner fuel was nearly spent, and all of their decoys were used up. Unfairly, the simulation did not have a finite number of bugs. Suddenly, an enemy missile pounded into the aft side of Wabo's Cobra. Within seconds his Cobra began to break up and he barely had enough time to eject. His display screen went black and the hatch to his simulator lifted. He stood up and got out with a great intake of fresh air. He was sweating a little and flexing his hand to get some circulation back into it. Pilots came over to congratulate him on the job he had done. Maniac had a smile on his face and gave him a thumbs up sign. He smiled in return and gave Drake a salute. Then, without a word, he walked out the door.

* * *

The new bug crawled towards its fighter. Its glowing eyes pierced through the blackness of the bay where the fighter was housed. Once inside, it let out a hiss of utter hate as the engine began to power up.

* * *

Wabo came back ten minutes later with a package and a bottle under his arm. He arrived back just in time to see Tracer climbing out of his simulator. Though the crowd was cheering and congratulating him, he looked pissed. He had been snuck by a cluster of Mantas just before he could take an ace out of the equation. Wabo smiled and walked over to him. "Can't get 'em all," he said. "But if it makes you feel any better, at least you didn't get tagged first."

"Yeah, I know," Tracer said, quickly saluting Maniac and Drake. "But it still sucks."

Wabo just smiled again and he and Tracer moved through the crowd to where Maestro and Zero were sitting.

* * *

The bug fighter sped from the bay and headed out into the darkness. Its many limbs moved over the controls, accomplishing multiple tasks at once. Telemetry data was downloaded and viewed in seconds.

* * *

Wabo and Tracer were cheering on with the rest of the pilots. They high-fived one another as Rapier and Bitch tag-teamed a bug ace and blew it out of the sky. They turned their attention to Midnight's display and could see that a couple of bombers plus an ace were buzzing around him. While they were watching him take out the ace, Chameleon's display beeped. They turned to look at her display just in time to see her eject. A Lamprey had opened on her with all that it had while she was chasing down two bombers. Her simulator hatch opened and she sat there for a moment. With an exasperated sigh, she climbed out of the simulator and stretched. Pilots came over to her to congratulate her. She took their compliments in stride, saluted Maniac and Drake, and walked over to where Wabo and Tracer were sitting.

* * *

The bug took in all of its computer's data. Its mandibles clicked as it plotted its new course and destination. On its console was a tactical display of the _Palau_.

* * *

Chameleon sat in Maestro's lap and put her arms about his neck. Wabo, Tracer, and Zero all smirked. Maestro shifted a little in his seat at his sudden predicament.

"Hey, soldier," she said. "Care to buy a lady a drink when this is all over?"

"I think she likes you," said Wabo.

Maestro didn't hear what he said. He just looked in her eyes. "Uh, sure," he stammered and as casually as he could he put his hand on her leg.

Chameleon just smiled, kissed Maestro on the cheek, and turned to watch the rest of the sim.

The situation was getting desperate. The loss of three of the seven was catching up to the four who remained. Midnight had just taken two nasty laser hits in the side, while a missile had impacted his aft. Princess was not fairing as lucky. She had somehow survived two missile impacts and several laser hits. Most of her systems were either out or in the red. Bitch, on the other hand, was simply out of shields and her afterburners were gone. Miraculously, Rapier was still almost fresh. Though he was out of both afterburner fuel and missiles, everything else was functioning at peak performance.

Stiletto leaned over in Casey's ear. "What do you think?" she asked him.

"I think they are far exceeding Commander Drake's expectations of them," he replied. "As it is, I noticed Maniac licking his chops a few times like he wants to take them on."

"I would pay to see that," said Zero, who had come over to the bar to get a round for himself.

"And who would you bet on, Zero?" pressed Stiletto.

"That would be a tough one to call," Zero replied. "It could go either way."

"My money would be on the Maniac," said Stiletto. "He has more experience from one tour of duty than they all have combined."

"That is a good point," Casey agreed.

"Yes, it is a very good point," conceded Zero. "But these guys are flying newer ships than he did. Their toys and gadgets are far more advanced than anything the Maniac has flown in. However, if you put any one of them in a Panther or a Vampire versus Maniac, he would smoke them before they got out of the gate."

The crowd gave a mass moan of dejection as the display screen for Princess went black. An ace had taken her out with a missile. The hatch to her simulator opened and she got out. "Fuck," she muttered under her breath.

People congratulated her on an outstanding performance. Before she could take two steps, the screen for Bitch went black as well and her hatch opened. She stood up and stretched. The crowd was pointing at her and telling her that she was amazing. As she stepped from her simulator she turned her head to look at Princess. "The same ace that killed you, killed me," she said with her hands on her hips and shaking her head in disgust. The both of them turned to Maniac and Drake and saluted. Then they waded through the crowd to get to their other fallen squad members.

* * *

The bug sped off into the darkness towards his destination. It was Hell bent on attacking and killing any ConFed ship it came across, no matter how big or small it was.

* * *

Midnight blasted through the ace that had taken out Princess and Bitch with his guns. No one knew what was keeping his ship intact. If this were a real flight, and he got home in one piece, the flight technicians would have it dry-docked for weeks. The crowd could see that the two pilots were beginning to fly in closer proximity to one another. The crowd heard Rapier's missile lock sensor go off and saw him begin to try and outrun it. Then, out of nowhere, Midnight purposely flew into its path and was destroyed. His simulator opened and he calmly and casually stood up and got out. He turned to look at Drake and Maniac, gave them a quick salute, and walked out of pilot country to use the head. Rapier was now all by himself.

Drake had a puzzled look on her face as to what Midnight had done. Maniac had a big cheesy grin on his face. He understood what had happened and chuckled despite himself.

"What's so amusing?" Drake asked.

"Oh, its nothing," said Maniac. "I just get what he did."

"And what is it that he did?"

"He committed a selfless act. There were two of them left. He was the weaker of the two, so he took the hit so that his friend could keep going longer."

"He allowed himself to die, to give his Wing Commander a better chance to live," said Drake, finally getting the move Midnight had made. "There aren't many pilots who would be willing to do that."

"No, there aren't," Maniac agreed.

Midnight returned and promptly went over to the rest of the Omegas. They all gave him a pat on the back for a job well done and turned back to Rapier's display screen. He was flying like a man possessed. Fighters were dropping left and right. Two bugs got him in a crossfire and he did a sharp upward turn to avoid it. As he did a bug Lamprey came right at him from underneath and ripped into him with its guns. His Cobra shook violently and he barrel-rolled to get away. The bugs were closing in on him now. Three separate bugs hit him with their guns and he barely had enough time to hit the eject button before his Cobra broke up to end the simulation. When his hatch cover opened the crowd of assembled pilots cheered as if he has just saved the day for real. He walked over to where Drake and Maniac were standing and gave them a salute. The rest of Omega Squadron walked over to stand beside him. They all stood at attention and waited for Drake to speak.

"Very impressive," she said. "That was some of the best flying I've seen in a long time. If you can do that for real when the time comes, then this ship and her entire crew will remain safe for the duration of this mission. Good work pilots."

They all saluted her again. Maniac turned to Zero. "Hey, Zero!" he said. "What was their score?"

Zero got up to take a look. "Damn!" he said aloud.

"Well what was it?" Maniac asked again.

"Total flight time: one hour, 36 minutes, and 47 seconds," he responded. "Total number of kills: 297. That comes to an average of 42.4 kills per pilot, if the computer is correct."

"Outstanding!" shouted Maestro.

Casey and Stiletto just looked at one another and nodded their approval.

Drake smiled and dismissed the Omegas. Then she and Maniac turned and left.

"This calls for a celebration!" shouted Wabo as he quickly he ran around the bar and opened his package. He pulled out the Omega shot glasses and lined them up. Then he opened his bottle and poured out. They each took their respective shot glasses and held them high.

"Omega Squadron!" they all shouted together.

**To be continued…**


	10. Ambushed

**Ambushed**

Three days later, Amazon was leading her squadron of Panthers and an SWACS on a nav patrol over a day and a half away from the _Palau_. On her wing were Sprite, Warlord, Ninja, and Caveman. Directly behind them was the SWACS Listener, and about 10,000 meters behind that was the refueling ship Virtue.

"…if this is my thermometer, then where is my pen?" Warlord said, giving the punchline to the joke he had been telling.

"Gross, Warlord," Sprite said.

"Yeah, really," agreed Ninja.

"Well, if you guys got a better one, let's hear it," said Warlord.

"This is the SWACS," spoke one of the people aboard the Listener.

"Go ahead, Listener," said Amazon. "What do you have for us?"

"Our sensors are reading an massive energy surge 45,000 meters ahead on our two o'clock. It could be a jump point."

"Roger that, Listener," said Amazon. "Warlord, Caveman, break formation and follow me. We're going to check out the energy surge. Sprite, Ninja, stay here and protect the Listener. Virtue, I recommend you fall back to a safe distance in case this is something from the bugs."

Each of the pilots signaled their compliance and moved into position in accordance with their orders.

"I recommend we increase our forward shields just incase we meet something head-on," Amazon suggested.

"Roger," Warlord said.

"Okay," Caveman said.

Suddenly, the swirling light of a jump point came into view directly in front of them. They distinctly saw something emerge from its center and then as quickly as it had appeared, the jump point was gone. "Heads up," Amazon said. " We've got an unknown contact."

"Roger," Warlord said.

"Okay," Caveman said.

Their targeting computers lit up and they made out a single bug fighter of unknown configuration. "Only one fighter?" Caveman said.

"Would you prefer an entire nest of 'em?" said Amazon. "Let's take it out before it has a chance to hit the SWACS."

"Roger," Warlord said.

"Okay," Caveman said.

The fighter came straight at them and buzzed passed them without firing a shot and without being hit by a single one of the three Panthers' lasers. "That thing's fast," declared Amazon. "Amazon to Sprite, you have a single enemy inbound. Keep him off the SWACS." With that the three Panthers turned about to give chase.

"Roger," said Sprite.

"Time to kill a bug," said Ninja.

The fighter came into visual range of the SWACS. Then over everyone's COMM came a piercing screech. It was like no bug sound any of them had every heard. Sprite and Ninja got a target lock on it and moved in to engage. Ninja was first to get within firing range. He switched on his lasers and opened fire. He missed with every shot. The bug blew passed both Ninja and Sprite. "Shit," said Ninja. "He's going after the SWACS."

"Not if I can help it," said Sprite, who turned about to pursue the bug.

Just as she turned about she was met with laser fire from the bug's ship. Sprite broke hard right to get out of its path of fire. Ninja had him in his sights and opened fire again. The bug took two very small hits on the port side and just maneuvered out of the path of the rest of the shots. By this time, Amazon had returned with the others and entered the fight. The bug zoomed by again and was out of visual sight within moments. Then, out of nowhere, Warlord's missile lock alarm went off.

"What the?" he said.

"Warlord, brake hard right!" Amazon shouted, but it was too late. The missile impacted on his bow and he listed to one side. "Warlord!"

The bug flew right in on him and opened fire. Amazon fired upon him to try and steer him away, but this time he allowed himself to be hit. His guns rocked Warlord's Panther, making it list even more.

"Warlord," shouted Amazon. "Eject, eject! Warlord!"

Warlord's Panther exploded into a fireball. The bug gave out that same piercing scream again. Amazon was pissed.

"Let's get out of here!" Sprite said.

"I agree," said Ninja.

"No, we have to take him out!" shouted Amazon.

The bug's awful screams could be heard again and a missile struck Amazon's port side.

"Shit!" she yelled.

"I got him," said Caveman. "Gonna squash you, bug."

He began trying to line up the bug. With no warning the bug turned and flew straight at him. "Grbllkack, grs…come and get me, Caveman," said the bug. Everyone's blood ran cold. That was Blair's voice. Caveman was so stunned that his mind blanked. Within a blink, the bug hit him with two missiles and a barrage of gunfire. Moments later, there was only debris where Caveman's Panther had been.

"I told you that we should have gotten out of here," said Sprite on the verge of hysterics. "We're going to die!"

"Calm down, Sprite," ordered Amazon. "Listener, get out of here and transmit your data. We're going to try and hold him off long enough to for you to escape. Virtue, run."

"Roger, that," said the Listener.

"Amazon, it's time for you to die," said the bug in Blair's voice.

Ninja just fired off two quick infrared missiles at the bug. "Got a can of raid for ya!" he said with a grin.

The bug popped off a decoy and one of the missiles took the bait. The other still held fast. They thought that they finally had him. Suddenly the bug spun about with his guns blazing and shot down the second missile.

"Sprite," Amazon said. "Fall back to the Listener and give it cover."

"Affirmative," said Sprite who was more than happy to leave.

The bug turned to come back at the Panthers. Ninja and Amazon both opened fire again, but missed. Then they both fired an infrared missile at him. The bug began a series of loops and rolls to try and outmaneuver the missiles. Then unexpectedly he kicked in an afterburner and charged the Panthers. Both Ninja and Amazon tried to evade, but the bug was just too fast and so much more maneuverable than they were. He came at Amazon's side. Ninja was powerless to stop what happened next. The bug pulled up at the very last possible moment and the missiles just kept going. They impacted on her already damaged port side. The sound of her screaming as her Panther exploded could be heard over everyone's COMM. Ninja was frightened. He turned about and kicked in his afterburners, trying to flee.

"Sprite, Listener, anybody!" he shouted. "Let's get the Hell out of here before…"

He was cut off in mid-sentence as a missile hit rocked his ship. The bug blew him to pieces with its guns and kept moving forwards. In about a minute he was within sight of the Listener.

"This is Sprite calling the TCS _Palau_," Sprite began. "We are under attack. Repeat, we are under attack. Four of five Panthers destroyed. All pilots gone down with their ships."

The bug chased down Sprite and fired with its guns. Within moments her aft shields were gone. Sprite continued her message to the _Palau_. "Unknown bug fighter engaged," she said as the bug screamed again. The guns continued to pick at her. "He's chewing me to pieces. Got to eject." With that she pulled the ejector handle and her escape pod tumbled from her exploding fighter. The bug locked onto her pod with a missile and fired. Her pod broke up instantly upon impact. Then he headed for the SWACS.

The Listener signaled the bug, "Don't fire! Please, we are unarmed."

"I know," came the voice of Blair over the COMM. "It makes this much easier. And more fun." The bug let out that piercing scream again and fired upon the Listener. Within moments, the Listener was a memory. The bug's mandibles clicked and it sped off to find the Virtue.

* * *

Lieutenant Anderson slowly set his headset down. He looked like he was about to throw up. He had heard Sprite and the SWACS until the end. "Did we get the Listener's telemetry?" he asked of one of the officers on the bridge.

"Most of it, sir," the officer replied. "There are some parts that are a bit scrambled, mostly the parts near the very end."

"Helm, answer all stop," Anderson said.

"Aye, sir," said the helmsman. "Answering all stop."

Anderson left the bridge and went to the mess hall to find Commander Drake and Commodore Marshall. He had to stop at the head first and retch. When he was done he cleaned up and went to the table that Drake and Maniac were sitting at. They were going over reports of the past few days. Maniac was trying desperately to hide his boredom. "Sirs?" he said.

"Yes, Anderson," spoke Drake. "What is it?"

"There's something that I think you should hear, on the bridge."

Maniac and Drake understood his hint that this was not something to be discussed in the open. They stood to go with him. Once they were in the lift Maniac noticed that Anderson was shaken.

Once they were on the bridge Anderson played Sprite's final message back. They could hear the absolute terror that was in her voice. Then they heard the scream. Drake winced.

"What the hell was that?" Maniac demanded. "Was that her?"

"No, sir," said Anderson. "We assume that it came from the bug that attacked them."

"Bugs don't sound like that!" Maniac said loudly.

"Calm down, Maniac," said Drake. "Does anyone outside of the bridge crew know about this yet?"

"No, ma'am," said Anderson. "I figured I would let you or the Commodore inform the crew."

Drake handed Maniac the microphone. "You should do this," she said.

Maniac had an almost nauseated look on his face as he turned on the COMM system. "Attention all hands, this is Commodore Marshall," he began. "It is my sad duty to report to you that we just received word that the SWACS patrol that had been sent out was ambushed by an unknown bug fighter. At this time we believe that everyone in that patrol has been lost. The data we have concerning the attack is sketchy at this time. You will all be updated once we know more. Commodore Marshall out." Maniac turned off the microphone and walked off.

In pilot country all the pilots looked at one another in complete silence. Maestro walked over to a bell that was in one of the corners behind the bar. He pulled the rope on the bell once to make it ring. "Black day," he said.

"Black skies," the rest of the pilots said raising their glasses to toast their fallen friends.

**To be continued…**


	11. Decisions

**Decisions**

Chameleon was lying facedown on Maestro's bed. She had on a pair of underwear and was naked from the waist up. Maestro came out of the bathroom, moved over to the bed, and straddled Chameleon's hips. Slowly he began to massage her neck and shoulders. She let out a moan of pleasure at his touch. "Lower," she purred. Maestro just shifted downwards and began massaging the middle and lower portions of her back. "Oh, right there. Yes."

Maestro smiled and leaned forward to give her a kiss on the shoulder. It had been five days since the SWACS team had perished. Unfortunately, all five of those days since had been filled with seriously heavy real fighter combat. Besides the SWACS team, almost fifteen other pilots had been lost. The bugs were hitting the _Palau_ with everything they had. Drake and Maniac were busy trying to figure out a strategy in order to stay alive. The _Palau_ had retreated, backtracked, and circumvented and still the bugs were coming. Some wings had to fly near to round the clock. Omega Squadron was being especially hit by that. They would fly until their Cobras were empty of ordinance or fuel or both, dock, and then get into their secondary Cobras and go right back out to repeat the process. When that was over, they would get back into their Primary Cobras and start all over again. This was the first moment of levity for them in about 36 hours. Maestro tickled Chameleon's ribs to get her to squirm.

"Stop," she said with a giggle.

"Make me," Maestro replied. He leaned forward again and kissed her on the lips.

"All pilots to the briefing room on the double!" squawked Anderson over the ship-wide intercom.

"Please hand me my shirt," Chameleon said.

Maestro gave her her shirt and turned his back to let her get dressed. He himself got back into his flightsuit and waited for her to do likewise. Once she had also gotten dressed they went out to the lift and headed for the flight deck. Chameleon was the last of the Omegas to arrive and Maestro moved to sit with the rest of Diamondback Squadron. Rapier turned a sideways glance to Zero in Diamondback section. Zero shrugged and rolled his eyes. It was clear that they both knew that Maestro and Chameleon had become an item. Drake walked in with Maniac and before anyone could stand Maniac said, "As you were."

Drake and Maniac both looked like they were shouldering the weight of the world. Drake stepped up to her podium and looked over all the faces of the pilots. She steeled herself and Maniac took a few steps away. "Before it was destroyed," she began. "The Listener sent us some crucial information. The first piece of information is on the new type of Bug fighter that engaged the pilots who were flying escort for the SWACS. It is a medium fighter with heavier armor than most fighters of its size. It sports a lot of firepower for a bug fighter of its size. One piece of note is that in addition to its energy weapons, it also seems to carry a projectile gun similar to our Stormfire guns. However, it has yet to fire this gun in combat as far as we can tell. This fighter is also very fast. Faster than just about everything we have. Our preliminary estimates show that only a Wasp or Cobra stands even a remote chance keep up with it. Also, due to the fact that the pilot of this fighter took out five Panthers in the Black Widow Squadron, we have sufficient reason to believe that the pilot is an ace. I am not going to sugarcoat this ladies and gentlemen, this bug is lethal and if you meet him in a battle your odds of surviving are not good. The only successful hits scored on it were when it allowed itself to be hit."

A general murmur went up among the pilots. Drake sighed and continued. "You heard me correctly, when it allowed itself to be hit. Don't try to outrun it either, you will not get away, nor will you be able to chase it down. One final thing, if you eject from your fighters, pray that your wingman can keep him off of you because he has no problems targeting your escape pods and firing on them. He is like no bug we have ever seen in this war."

Drake allowed the pilots a few moments to let all this demoralizing information sink in. She looked at Maniac. He didn't look at her, he just stared at the floor. Once Drake felt that the information had been sufficiently absorbed and digested she proceeded. "The second piece of information is the news that two battle groups have been detected in the V'trelm system. They are not running together, but are in fact putting distance between themselves. Based on our projections, one battle group is headed for a civilian colony on the edge of the G'renll system. The other group appears to be headed for a military outpost in the G'atak system. Since we are the closest ConFed presence to these battle groups, we are going to maneuver the _Palau_ to intercept. However, there is bad news that comes along with this. Both groups have fleet destroyers and we will only be able to stop one of those battle groups from reaching its destination. We have decided that it would be best if we stopped the battle group headed for the civilian target. Now, it will take the _Palau_ two days to intercept this battle group and between now and then we will be on full alert at all times. If there are no questions, then you are all dismissed."

The assembly of pilots stood and saluted. While the rest of the pilots were filing out, Rapier and Midnight were discussing something. "I doubt we will be allowed to do that," said Midnight.

"Why?" asked Rapier.

"Its very risky, for one," said Midnight. "And two, we will be on our own for it."

"Is there a problem, gentlemen?" asked Drake. Rapier and Midnight turned to face her at attention.

"No, ma'am," said Rapier. "Midnight and I were just discussing the possibility of attacking the second battle group with the Omega Squadron."

"How would you plan on doing that, Lieutenant," Drake began. "When the Omega Squadron is going to be attacking the first battle group?"

"I just thought that…"

"No, Lieutenant," interrupted Drake. "You didn't think. We've lost twenty good pilots on this tour already. We can't afford the risk of losing any more pilots on unnecessary missions. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Rapier.

"Good, now get going. We all have a lot of work to do before our next mission."

Rapier and Midnight quietly saluted and turned to leave. Maniac was standing at the doorway as they left. Rapier briefly locked eyes with him as he left the room. Once they were gone, Maniac turned to Drake. "That was uncalled for," he said. "At least they were trying to think of a way to hit both battle groups."

"At ease, Commodore," said Drake. "We've been over this a dozen times, we don't have the resources to attack both groups. We both agreed that the outpost stands a better chance of surviving an attack than the colony does."

"No, no you decided which target would stand a better chance for survival. You and I both know that if we don't take that battle group out then the outpost will fall. I say that if Omega Squadron wants to take a shot at them, let them."

"And lose our only pilots capable of taking on that new fighter?"

"You don't know that they will fail. You are condemning them before they try."

"Yes, I know they would fail. Now, I think you should stop trying to tell me how to do my job and do your own. I am Commander Air Group, not you. I say how and when they will fly and what missions they will fly on, not you! Now, if you will please excuse me, Commodore, I have more pressing things to do than stand here and argue with you."

Maniac turned and stormed out of the briefing room and headed right for pilot country. He stormed in and marched right up to Rapier. "I want you and your whole squadron in my office in ten minutes," he ordered. Without another word he turned and marched back out, ignoring the salutes of other officers.

"Great," said Bitch. "He's going to chew us out."

"I don't think so," disagreed Rapier.

Ten minutes later, exactly, the entire assembly of the Omega Squadron arrived at Maniac's office. "At ease," he said. "I want to hear what you have planned."

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" asked Rapier.

"Of course," replied Maniac. " I wouldn't have brought you guys in here if we weren't going to discuss this matter off the record. So tell me what you are planning."

Rapier motioned to Midnight. Midnight stepped forward and looked directly at Maniac. "Originally, we thought that we could just go after the second battle group from the go," he said. "However, because we are under orders to go on the primary mission, that make going after the second battle group more difficult, but not impossible."

"How do you mean?" asked Maniac.

"According to the ICIS," continued Midnight. "It should take roughly four hours to get the mission accomplished. But, by my calculations, if we can trim enough time off of that, we can still hit the second group."

"How much time?" asked Maniac.

Midnight took a deep breath. "Ninety minutes. If we can do that, it would give us a five-minute window to take out the capital ships of the second battle group. Anything less than ninety minutes, and we won't have enough time to get the job done before they make their jump."

"That cuts it close," said Maniac. "Are you sure it's worth it?"

"Sir," interrupted Rapier. "If we weren't sure it was worth it, we wouldn't be planning it."

"Do you all feel that way?" asked Maniac.

Every member of Omega Squadron nodded their heads.

"Alright," said Maniac. "Assuming I let you do this, how do you propose to get this accomplished? I do not want you to compromise the primary objective in order to get the secondary objective done."

"Of course not, sir," said Rapier. "Our plan is simple. We are flying fighter support for Black Widow Squadron. They take out the capital ships, we take out the fighters. Once the enemy fighters are all gone and Major Talvert gives us the go ahead, we will race back to the _Palau_. Once docked, we get out of our Primary Cobras and jump into our Secondary Cobras, which will conveniently be fueled and ready to launch with a booster pack variation and a wild weasel load. When we launch, we race towards the second battle group and beat them to the jump point."

"Where you take out as much of that battle group as you can to either give the outpost a better chance, or convince the bugs to abort their mission," said Maniac.

"Exactly, sir," said Rapier.

"Let me ask you one more question, Lieutenant," said Maniac. "What makes you so certain that you will succeed at your primary mission and that all of you will come back from it?"

"We have no choice, sir," said Rapier. "We have to succeed. And I also have my utmost faith in the skills of the pilots under my command. If I didn't then I wouldn't even have thought about trying this."

Maniac nodded his head. "Tell you what," he said. "I'll see to it that those secondary Cobras are waiting for you and I'll handle the CAG. But you have to promise me that you'll succeed in either destroying that battle group or turn it back. Deal?"

The members of Omega Squadron looked at one another. Rapier could feel them all silently agree. He turned to face Maniac. "Deal," he said.

Maniac breathed in a sigh of relief. "Good. Very well, dismissed."

They all saluted him and proceeded to leave. "Rapier, Midnight, stick around," Maniac said at the last moment. "We have an engagement to plan and bugs to kill."

"Yes, Sir!" Rapier and Midnight said at the same time.

The door to Maniac's office closed and the three of them sat down to plan the battle.

**To be continued…**


	12. Beat the Clock

**Beat the Clock**

"You're planning what?" asked Stiletto.

"We're making plans on hitting the second battle group," replied Maniac. "And I need your help to cover it up."

"Cover it up?" asked Casey.

"Yes," said Maniac. "Drake isn't willing to make an attempt against the second battle group, even though Omega Squadron practically begged her to let them try and take it out."

"What's the plan then?" asked Casey.

"It's very simple," said Maniac. "But the timing has to be perfect or the whole thing will be called off. And you can't tell Drake about any of this."

"Alright already," said Casey. "I won't tell Drake anything. Stiletto?"

Stiletto frowned. She didn't like going against regs. Casey nudged her and gave her a serious glare. "Okay, I promise too," she said.

"I've had Alpha, Bravo, and Omega Wings pulled from flight rotation for the duration of our trip to the intercept point," began Maniac. "I've used the excuse that I want the pilots in those wings to be fully rested before the big mission."

"Really big of you," commented Casey. It was Stiletto's turn to nudge him.

"Fortunately enough," continued Maniac. "Drake thought that I had come up with a good idea. Now at this very moment, all the pilots in Omega Squadron are flying in the simulators trying to see if they can succeed at their part of the mission."

"I still don't see what our part in all this is," said Casey.

"Me neither," added Stiletto.

"Well, then let me finish," said Maniac. "Now, as I was saying, they're in the simulators trying to see if they can pull this whole thing off. The plan is as follows. Omega Squadron is to engage all fighters and Corvettes. Bravo Wing is delivering the torpedo loads to the large vessels…"

"Wait, why is Bravo Wing doing the torpedo run?" interrupted Casey.

"Because you suck at doing torpedo runs, Casey," replied Maniac. "Alpha Wing will be flying close fighter cover for Bravo Wing. This is where the catch to the whole thing is comes into play. Since Alpha Wing will be flying fighter cover for Bravo Wing, the Panthers in Alpha Wing will have to fly slow enough so that the Shrikes in Bravo Wing can keep up. Omega Wing is flying pure fighter engagement. Therefore the Cobras in Omega Wing will be flying at full throttle to the engagement. The plan is for them to get there well ahead of you and clear the field for your arrival. If everything goes as planned then they will have taken out every target in their assignment before Alpha and Bravo Wings even get to the engagement area. This way they can leave the battle and speed back to the _Palau_ to get ready to go after the second battle group. If the area is not yet secure by the time that Alpha and Bravo Wings arrive, then they will of course stay."

"Kind of like launching a preemptive strike against the bugs," said Stiletto.

"Exactly," replied Maniac. "Stiletto, Omega Wing is under orders to stay at the engagement until they have permission to leave. That's where you come in. Once you are satisfied that they have fulfilled their portion of the attack you are to give them the order to return home, and then and only then will they head back to the _Palau_ to begin the second part of their mission."

"What does the second portion of their mission entail?" asked Casey.

"It's best that you don't know," said Maniac. "The less you and the pilots on your wing know about the second phase, the better. Omega Squadron and I are shouldering the heat for this one. I can't allow you two to get thrown in the brig over this as well."

"Can they pull it off?" asked Stiletto.

"For the sake of that outpost, I hope so," said Maniac.

Meanwhile, down in pilot country the Omegas were climbing out of the simulators. They all looked tired. Rapier put his hands over his face to keep from screaming. They had run this simulation five times already and the best they could do was shorten their time by eighty minutes.

"It's hopeless," said Tracer.

"No, it's not hopeless," said Rapier. "We're just not doing it fast enough."

"It's not that," said Midnight.

"Can't we just radio Stiletto when we get the job done and already be heading back by the time they get there?" asked Bitch.

"I agree with Bitch," said Princess. "Why the hell do we have to wait?"

"Because those are Commodore Marshall's orders," said Rapier. "Remember, that's the only way he would allow us the shot at the second battle group."

Wabo and Chameleon looked at each other, but said nothing. Wabo simply moved around the bar, grabbed the hardest stuff he could find, and poured a shot for himself. Rapier gave him a cold stare. "I said no drinking until we got this right," he said.

Wabo sighed. "Lieutenant Johnson," he began. "This idea has been a great one, but now that we've tried it out in the simulators, multiple times I might add, I've come to the conclusion that what we're attempting can't be done. I, therefore, give up." With that he tossed back his shot.

"I agree with Wabo," said Chameleon who was also reaching for a shot glass. "We've given it a good run, and we're failing. I say forget about this whole situation."

"Could we be programming the flight simulation with too many enemy craft?" asked Tracer.

Princess smacked him upside the head. "No you git!" she yelled at him. "The problem is the travel time, not how fast we kill the enemy!"

Midnight, who had been deep in contemplation until that moment turned his head and looked at Princess with a stunned look on his face. "Say that again," he said to Princess.

Princess just stared back at him. "What?" she asked.

"What you said to Tracer," he replied.

"What?" she began. "That it's the amount of time we spend travelling and not the amount of time we spend killing bugs?"

Midnight's face brightened and his mind looked like it had begun to race. "I have a few tests to run," he said. "Hang around and don't go anywhere. I think I might have the solution to our problem." With that he jumped into his simulator again and slid the hatch closed.

"What's he up to?" asked Wabo.

"It's that nose of his," said Bitch. "He smells something."

"Well, let's do as the man says and hang around," said Rapier.

Wabo brought up a few more shot glasses and passed drinks out to everyone. They all collected at a table in the corner by the window to wait.

* * *

Maniac walked into pilot country to see how Omega Squadron was doing in the simulators. He paused for a brief moment when he saw most of them sitting at a table drinking and carrying on. "What's this?" he demanded.

Rapier shrugged. "It would seem we're taking a break," he said. "We can't pull it off."

"I thought you said you could do this," Maniac said, anger beginning to come into his voice.

"We keep coming up short," Bitch replied. "The best we can do is trim eighty minutes."

"Right now we're waiting for Midnight to finish some experiment before we go back into the simulators to try again," added Tracer.

"What experiment?" asked Maniac.

The whole of Omega Squadron just shrugged. "Dunno," said Wabo. "Midnight wouldn't tell us."

Maniac just let out an exasperated sigh and sat down with them. "Pass the bottle, junior," he said to Wabo. Wabo handed him the bottle and he took a healthy swig. "Y'know, in my days as a pilot there would've been no argument about whether or not a second fighter group would be dispatched to that other battle group. It would simply have been a matter of who was going to do it. Now it's all by the book or not at all. I really miss those days in the cockpit." Maniac took another big drink from the bottle.

"So why'd you climb out of the cockpit then and go into command?" asked Chameleon. "You were the poster child for flying forever."

"Yeah, I was," said Maniac. "About three years after we collapsed the gate in the Kilrah System I was flying a routine patrol with Casey and Stiletto. Part of our route took us through a dense asteroid field. What we didn't know was that the asteroid field was hiding a hive of bugs. Man they came at us hard. At first we shot 'em down just as fast as they came at us. The sky was lit up like the fourth of July. Then a Corvette came out of nowhere on my starboard side. It opened up on me with everything it had. I dodged what I could, but the majority of its fire still hit me. My Vampire was Swiss cheese within seconds. At that point I only had two options left, eject or cook in my cockpit. So I ejected and promptly slammed right into an asteroid. I went from about 800 meters per second to a dead stop. The impact broke my back, both my arms, and both my legs. But I was lucky. I had two of the best wingmen a pilot could ask for flying with me and they kept the bugs off of me long enough for a retrieval ship to pick me up. I spent about six months in a med bay on a space station near Earth after that. It was a year before I could walk without assistance. By the time I was ready to get back into the cockpit, the top brass told me that the injury to my spine and the nerve damage I had sustained made me a liability in the cockpit. But as a consolation prize, they gave me a big fat medal and a promotion that would keep me out of the cockpit." Maniac took a heavy swig from the bottle. Bitch rubbed his arm and looked sad.

"For the longest time I wished I had gone down with my fighter rather than ejecting," he continued. "I was a pilot and I was no longer allowed to fly. There is no honor in a pilot who can't fly. He might as well be dead. I'm going to give you guys two pieces of advice and I want you to follow them for as long as you're flying. The first is never let down your wingman. Keep flying the way you guys do. The second is never let them tell you when it's time to climb out of the cockpit. You decide for yourself when it's time. Otherwise you regret every day you aren't out there."

The hatch to Midnight's simulator opened. He climbed out and stared at everyone. "I've solved the problem," he said. "It's simple and yet still very hard."

Maniac and the rest of Omega Squadron looked at him expectantly. "Well?" asked Rapier. "What is it?"

"Afterburners," replied Midnight very plainly. "We use our afterburners to get back."

"Duh," said Tracer.

"Princess," Midnight began. Princess smacked Tracer upside the head again. "What I mean is that if we hold back our afterburner fuel until we leave the battle to return to the _Palau_, we will cut our time by ninety-five minutes."

"You mean not use our afterburners at all during the fight?" asked Chameleon.

"That's right," said Midnight.

"How the hell are we going to pull that off?" complained Tracer.

"I said the solution was simple," said Midnight. "I didn't say it was easy. It'll take a lot of practice."

"What about part two of this whole thing?" asked Maniac. "How's that fairing?"

"I have that part all figured out already," said Rapier.

"You do?" asked Bitch and Maniac simultaneously.

"Yes," replied Rapier. "Most of you may not like your assignments for that part, but I feel that once you hear my reasoning for it, you will agree with me."

"Thanks for the warning," said Tracer.

"Three of us will be doing the torpedo runs," began Rapier.

"Who's doing that?" interrupted Princess.

"I'm getting to that," said Rapier. "Let me just get this all out before you ask questions. Two more of us will target the Corvettes. One person stays strictly on fighter engagement, and the last does the shield generator run. Princess and Bitch will handle the Corvettes. Wabo, Chameleon, and Tracer will do the torpedo runs. I will handle the fighters, and Midnight will run the shield generator gauntlet."

"Why are those the assignments?" asked Midnight, obviously surprised. "I thought it was a given that I would take down the fleet killer. We discussed this."

"And at the time I agreed with you," replied Rapier. "But I've been giving this some serious thought. While the fleet killer and the command vessels are the primary target, our main problem will come from their fighter cover. In my opinion, you stand the best chance of punching through that line of defense, taking down the shield generators, and coming out of it without a scratch. Firing the torpedoes is the easy part. Taking down their shields so that those torpedoes will hit their intended targets is the hard part."

"He has a point," agreed Chameleon.

"And once you're done with that," continued Rapier. "You will be needed to take out as many fighters as you can. Which brings me to another point. The simulation proved that Midnight and I are the best dogfighters in the lot. That is why I'm not doing the torpedo run either. The sooner we get rid of the fighters, the sooner we are out of that part of danger. The fighters are going to be in our faces a lot longer than the command ships. The strongest dogfighters should be the ones to worry about the fighters. If I can plow the road for everyone else, then that's what I'm gonna do. Tracer, Wabo, and Chameleon will only have to dogfight until the shields are down on the command ships. After that they won't be engaging fighters again until they have delivered their torpedoes."

"You're beginning to babble," said Princess.

Rapier stopped for a moment when he heard that. An exasperated look of agreement crossed his face. "But do you all see my point?" he asked.

Silently everyone nodded, including Midnight and Maniac.

"Good," he said. "Then let's get back to practicing. We have to have this whole mission down cold."

Maniac set down the bottle of alcohol that he had been drinking from. "Well," he began. "You all seem to have things well in hand at the moment, so I'll be going." Without a further word he saluted, turned, and left at a brisk pace. As he was walking back to the bridge he prayed for this whole mission to go off without a hitch.

**To be continued…**


	13. Put Up or Shut Up

**Put Up or Shut Up**

Omega Squadron walked silently and as a group to the briefing room. Fortunately, Maniac had been able to keep Drake in the dark about what was going to go down, and this briefing was merely a formality. They all quickly took their seats and looked to Drake to begin the briefing.

Drake moved to her podium and surveyed the pilots before beginning. "We have finally reached the V'trelm system and we will be launching within the hour," she said finally. "Please check your ICIS for your mission objectives."

Omega Squadron looked down at their ICIS's. The grid display came up and the automated voice began. "The _Palau_ has finally reached the V'trelm system. Your objective is to fly to an intercept point near the G'renll jump-gate and, along with Major Casey's Alpha Wing, fly heavy fighter support for Stiletto's Bravo Wing. You must clear a path through the enemy fighters so that Bravo Wing can deliver its payload to the enemy's command ships. Once the command ships have been disabled, return to the _Palau_. End of Briefing."

Rapier looked up and began to set in his mind his real orders. Silently he looked towards the rest of Omega Squadron. "If there are no questions," began Drake. "Then you are all dismissed. Good luck out there." The assembly of pilots rose as one and began to file out.

Maniac stepped up and motioned for Rapier to come over. "Lieutenant, I want to talk to you about your performance as of late," he said. Then he took a quick look to make sure that Drake had left the briefing room with Anderson. "I'll have the bridge clear you for landing as soon as you're in visual range. In order to let me know that you've succeeded in cutting enough time, do three barrel rolls during your approach. When I see you do that it will signal me to tell the maintenance crew to prepare your second set of Cobras for immediate launch. All you'll have to do from there is get out of one fighter and into another. The second set of Cobras will be loaded as per Midnight's specifications. If all goes well, you and I are going to be celebrating in pilot country when you get back."

"I'd like that, sir," said Rapier.

"I wish you and your whole squadron the best of luck, Rapier," said Maniac.

"Thank you, sir," replied Rapier. Maniac saluted him and Rapier returned his salute. Without any further words Rapier turned and walked towards the doorway that lead to the hangar bay.

"One last thing, Lieutenant," Maniac said at the last moment before he could exit. Rapier paused without turning to face him. "I'd be out there flying with you if I could."

Rapier stood motionless for a moment. "Thank you, sir," he said. "That really means a lot." He steeled himself for a brief instant and marched out of the briefing room towards the hangar bay. Maniac left soon afterwards and headed for the bridge. He had a lot of work to do before Omega Squadron got back.

Rapier walked rapidly down the hall to the flight deck. His heart pounded. The rest of Omega Squadron had gathered and were waiting for him. They all wore the same face that he knew he was wearing at this very moment. He paused in front of them. They looked like they expected him to say something.

"Last chance to turn back," he said. Everyone remained silent. "End all, be all?"

They all smiled. "Yes, sir!" they responded in unison.

"Kick Bug ass and save the day?" he asked.

"Yes, SIR!" they all responded again.

"Saddle up and move out!"

"Yes, SIR!"

They all dispersed and headed for their assigned Cobras. They climbed the ladder to their cockpits and began their preflight countdowns.

Drake looked on with a smile from the window.

Once airborne, the Omegas met up with Casey and the rest of Alpha Wing.

"Omega Squadron," said Rapier. "Form up on my wing and prepare to go."

They all voiced in their acknowledgements and Rapier looked out of his cockpit towards Casey's Panther. "Time to turn and burn, Major," he said.

"See you at the engagement, Rapier," replied Casey.

"Hey, Frosty!" shouted Wabo over the COMM.

"Yes, Wabo?" replied Casey.

"You gonna drink with us when we get back?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Wabo."

Bravo Wing entered the flight pattern and the three sets of pilots headed for their NAV point. There was nothing but silence while they flew in formation.

"Bravo Leader to Omega Leader," said Stiletto over the COMM.

"This is Omega Leader," replied Rapier. "What can I do for you Major?"

"The coast is clear for you to proceed with your mission, Omega Squadron. Good luck and Godspeed."

"Thank you, Major. See you when you get there."

With that Omega Squadron kicked their Cobras into full throttle and sped away from the pack. Each and every one of them was a little nervous. "Remember people," said Rapier. "No afterburners or this will all have been for nothing."

Again each pilot chimed his or her acknowledgement. When at last they reached the engagement point. Rapier opened the Comm again. "Break formation and kill 'em," he said.

"Usual rules apply," added Wabo.

"Amen to that," said Chameleon.

The seven Cobras split up and headed for different targets. Midnight charged passed everything and headed for the Fleet Killer. Three Morays pursued him almost instantly. Tracer, meanwhile was lining up a missile shot already on one of the Corvettes. When his missile locked, he fired. The Corvette barely moved against the impact, like it hadn't felt a thing. The sensors told a different story. As if in anger, the Corvette targeted Tracer and returned fire with a barrage of laser fire. Though it hit him several times, his shields absorbed everything. Bitch followed soon after with another missile to the already damaged side of the Corvette. The Corvette was not able to handle two of the missile shots and exploded. Elsewhere, Chameleon was chasing the three Morays that were chasing Midnight. "Payback time," she said and fired one of her multi-target missiles at the three Morays. None of them survived the impact. Meanwhile, Rapier was firing his full guns at the second Corvette. Princess was busy chasing an Ace, and Wabo was swatting Mantas.

Midnight had braved the gun turrets of the Fleet Killer and aimed for its shield spikes. A quick burst from his guns and the first spike was obliterated. Two more quick bursts followed and the second and third shield spikes were gone. He turned and hit full throttle on his Cobra to put significant distance between himself and the Fleet Killer. It tried, unsuccessfully, to hit him with missiles, but he popped off a few decoys and turned away. Once the shields were down on the side of the Corvette that Rapier was firing upon, he launched two missiles quickly and the Corvette broke up. Wabo took down his third Manta with a missile. Princess finally locked onto the Ace, and fired full guns on him. He shook from the impact and had only barely enough time to turn about and fire one last missile before Princess's guns blew him from the stars. Princess tried to turn, but the missile impacted and damaged her guns. "Damn it!" she swore loudly over the COMM.

"Don't swear," said Wabo. "Its unladylike."

"Yeah," piped in Bitch. "Watch your fucking language."

"Cut the chatter," ordered Rapier. "We're not done yet."

Midnight had swung about and fired a missile into an oncoming Lamprey. It listed badly and he tore it apart with his guns.

"Chameleon," shouted Tracer. "You've got two on your tail."

"I know, I know," she said. "Tell me when I've picked up a third."

"What?" Tracer asked loudly. "Did you say a third?"

"Yup," she said. "I've got a plan."

"I hope you know what you're doing," interrupted Rapier.

"Yes, sir," said Chameleon.

Tracer spotted a third blip going after Chameleon. "You've got your third, sweetheart."

"Thank you, darling," responded Chameleon. With that she looped about and barrel rolled right back towards them. They all opened fire and hit her shields a few times. Her Cobra rocked as her multi-target missile armed. A second later she heard a beep and fired the missile, which subsequently broke apart and hit its three targets. Calmly she flew right through the debris that was the enemy fighters.

"Don't do that again, Chameleon," barked Rapier with another order.

"Yes, Daddy," she said sweetly.

Bitch was dog fighting with the last Ace. He was on her tail and firing heavily. One out of every five or six shots was actually hitting her shields. "Wabo," she said. "Time to arrival?"

"Another ten minutes," he replied. "Stop jerking around."

"Okay, okay! Sheesh!"

She led the Ace right towards the Fleet Killer. She dove, climbed, and rolled to avoid the gunfire from both in front and behind. Very foolishly, the Ace didn't break off its pursuit. It was in serious danger of being hit by friendly fire, but it still came at Bitch. She began weaving through the Fleet Killer's many tendrils. Then, with no warning, she pushed down on her stick sharply. The Ace careened right into the hull of the Fleet Killer and exploded. "How much time now?"

"Seven minutes," said Midnight, who shot out the shield generator spikes of the battleship.

Wabo fired his last missile at an oncoming Moray. It popped off a decoy and the missile took the bait. "Oh damn," he said over the COMM. "Got to do things the hard way." He switched to full guns and opened fire. It dodged most of his fire. Then, out of nowhere, a missile careened passed him and blew up the Moray. "Hey!"

"Sorry, sweetie," said Chameleon. "You were taking too long."

"I thought you liked it when guys took their time," commented Tracer to Chameleon.

"Usually, but not right now," commented Chameleon. "Time remaining?"

"Two minutes," said Tracer.

"Wrong," said Princess. "Try thirty seconds. Look at your display."

Everyone looked at their HUD and breathed a collective sigh of relief as they saw the Panthers in Casey's Alpha Wing zoom in and obliterate a Manta.

"Alpha One, to Omega One," said Casey.

"Go ahead, Alpha One," responded Rapier.

"The Cavalry has arrived," said Casey. "Now get out of here and save that base! Stiletto's orders."

"Yes, sir!" said Rapier. "Okay, Omegas, you heard the man, time to turn and burn! Thank you, Frosty. See you back at the _Palau_."

"Just don't let us down, Omega Squadron," replied Casey. He watched as the Omegas turned away from the action and hit full throttle back towards the _Palau_ just as Stiletto and Bravo Wing arrived.

"They did a great job," said Casey to Stiletto. "The Corvettes are all destroyed, the fighters are down to about ten percent, and the shield generators are down on the big ships."

Stiletto smiled. "Bravo Leader to Bravo Wing. Break formation and make a run at your targets. Alpha Wing, keep those fighters off of us and destroy those supply ships."

"Copy that," said Casey. "Alpha Wing, you have your objectives. Take 'em down!"

Stiletto targeted the bridge of the Fleet Killer and zoomed forward. Her targeting computer slowly began to lock onto the bridge. Her missile lock alarm went off and she popped two decoys without breaking course. The alarm ceased and her computer beeped that it had a missile lock. She fired and watched as the torpedo zoomed towards it target. There was a cheer over the Comm from everyone when they saw the bridge go up. Stiletto just buzzed passed the Fleet Killer and turned about to target its engines. Meanwhile, Casey fired a missile and destroyed the last of the remaining fighters. Then he turned about and headed for the Bugs' supply ships. Stiletto's targeting computer began its countdown to a lock. As it did, Bravo Two reported that the bridge of the Bug Battleship was destroyed. Seconds later, Bravo Three reported the same for the Bug Carrier. Stiletto's computer beeped its acknowledgement of a lock and she fired. She saw the impact and pulled away. On her Comm came the image of and pissed off voice of a Bug as the Fleet Killer exploded violently. She turned about and headed for Casey and the rest of Alpha Wing. About a minute later, the remainder of Bravo Wing's targets were destroyed. Stiletto gave the order to form up and return home. The Shrikes in her Wing signaled their acknowledgements. Casey and Alpha Wing had finished destroying the supply ships so they too formed up with Bravo Wing and headed for home.

"Part one accomplished, Casey," said Stiletto over the Comm. "Do you think the Omegas are going to pull off part two?"

"If they do as well with part two as they did with part one," replied Casey. "Then I think they will. What do you think Drake is going to do when she finds out?"

"I think she's going to have kittens," said Stiletto.

* * *

The Omegas were burning fuel quickly in their race to get home. "Time to arrival?" said Bitch.

"Ten minutes," said Rapier. "How much time have we cut?"

"Since Casey arrived early," began Midnight. "We should be able to cut close to 100 minutes."

"Beautiful," said Rapier. "So how much time will that give us to stop the second fleet?"

"Between 7-10 minutes," said Midnight. "Still not a lot of time to get the job done."

"Maybe not, but it will feel like an eternity," commented Tracer.

Very little was said for the rest of the flight. Everyone was too nervous to do anything other than wait.

Back on the _Palau_, Maniac was pacing frantically. The Omegas were due back at any moment and he was getting very impatient. "Any sign of them yet?" he asked.

"No, sir, no signs as of yet," responded the lookout on the bridge.

"What's taking them so damn long?"

The bridge crew looked at one another, not knowing whether or not one of them was expected to give an answer.

"Sir!" said the lookout.

"What is it?" asked Maniac

"I've spotted the Omegas. They're coming in at maximum possible speed."

Everyone on the bridge waited with bated breath for the lookout's next words.

"Omega Leader just signaled with three barrel rolls to port," he said triumphantly.

Maniac and the entire bridge staff let out a large cheer. Maniac walked over to the squawk. "This is Commodore Marshall to the maintenance bay. Get the Cobra fighters on the flight deck ready for emergency launch now!"

"TCS _Palau_ to Omega Squadron. Permission to land granted. Well done."

Rapier zoomed into the hangar and down-throttled at the last possible moment. Wabo and Bitch followed him in almost immediately. Tracer and Princess zoomed into the second landing bay and were soon followed by Chameleon and Midnight. Rapier shut everything off in his fighter in a heartbeat. Then he pushed his canopy open and practically vaulted out of his cockpit. The others did about the same. Then they all sprinted to their other Cobras, which, true to Maniac's word, were fitted with their wild weasel ordinance and interceptor boosters. The maintenance crews had already done the preflight startup for them so that they had less of a wait and down time. They were barely in their seats with their canopies closed when the docking cranes attached themselves and lifted them towards the drop bay.

Maniac's face came up on the COMM. "Your NAV computers have all been programmed for the intercept point. Good luck. Oh and one more thing, don't be stupid when your being a hero. I don't want to have to present your medals to your coffins instead of you. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," said Rapier. "See you and the bridge crew in Pilot Country when we get back."

With that the Omegas set course and hit full throttle out of the area. Maniac stood at the window like a statue. "Lieutenant," he said to the flight officer.

"Yes, sir?" he responded.

"Page me when Alpha and Bravos Wings return."

"Yes, sir."

Maniac began to whistle and walked off the bridge. Silently he moved passed other officers, saluting the entire time. He boarded a lift and took it down to Pilot Country. When he walked in a few of the pilots near the doors snapped to attention. He just motioned for them to be at ease. Slowly he approached Maestro at the bar. Maestro was just finishing making a few large drinks. When he looked up from what he was doing he saw the serious look on Maniac's face. Maniac just nodded his head ever so slightly and walked out. Maestro set his glass down and looked over to where Zero and Spyder were playing darts. Spyder noticed him first and tapped Zero on the shoulder. They both looked at Maestro. Maestro just motioned with his head and then turned to leave. Spyder and Zero looked at one another briefly and put their darts down. They then followed after Maestro and all three of them headed for the flight deck. They just passed everyone by and headed for three Vampires that were fueled and waiting for them.

Maniac returned to his office and sat down. He closed his eyes and sunk his face into his hands. His mind raced over many things at once, primarily the what ifs of the Omega Squadron.

"Sir," came a voice over the internal COMM in his office.

"What?" Maniac asked, almost annoyed.

"Alpha and Bravo Wings are on final approach."

Maniac just rubbed his face a few times. "Okay, thank you," he said. As he stood to go Drake burst into his office with a look on her face that would frighten Kilrathi.

"What the HELL is going on?" she demanded.

"Please, come right in Commander," said Maniac, ignoring her question. "I really don't have the time to talk at the moment. I have to get to the bridge." Maniac moved to go around her and out the door. Drake put her arm across his chest to block him from leaving.

"Not until you tell me what's going on," she said.

"Excuse me," he said going under her arm.

Drake followed on his heels. "Anderson told me that Omega Squadron came back early and then headed out again. And now he's telling me that Major Garrett's Charlie Wing has gone out on an unscheduled flight."

"Really?" asked Maniac. "Well, this is all news to me, Commander. Why would I know anything? I command the ship, you command the pilots."

"Oh, stop giving me the goddamn runaround!" shouted Drake.

"Fine," Maniac said with an exasperated sigh. "I went over and around your head and sent the Omegas up against that second bug fleet. Then I ordered Charlie Wing to follow and give them some support. Happy?"

"How dare you!" shouted Drake. "The decision was made to avoid contact with that group. You ignored my direct order to drop the matter. The pilots are my responsibility."

"Then maybe you should act responsibly," returned Maniac. "You and I both know that the base's only chance for survival against that fleet would be if we got ourselves involved. Now I don't know about you, but I'm here to stop the enemy by any means necessary, not avoid them at all costs. You act as though I'm new to this sort of thing. Well, I'm not. I know and understand very well the risks that are involved. I saw more than my fair share of pilots and friends risk their lives and die to protect those they cared about. If you think that just because I finally got a promotion I should have gotten twenty years ago that I'm going to forget what this job is all about, then you've got another thing coming. Omega Squadron believes the same things I do, and DAMN IT, if I think they can do the job then I'm going to let them, and not let politics and bureaucracy dictate how and when they are going to fly. If you don't like my decisions, tough! I'm the one in charge of this ship. File an official protest with the top brass if you like, but don't get in my way and don't tell me how to do my job."

Drake began to say something, then thought better of it. She still had a pissed off look on her face.

Maniac felt the discussion was over and got into the lift to the bridge.

* * *

The fleet was finally on long-range visual. The trip was almost over. They were all nervous. The Bug ships were getting closer and closer with each passing second. "Boosters, NOW!" ordered Rapier. Everyone engaged their twin booster rockets and felt the force of gravity push them back into their seats. The night sky was blurred into an image of bright lines. Midnight looked at his timer. The boosters had about ten seconds more before they were used up. Silently he counted down the time until the boosters ran out. He closed his eyes and waited. His Cobra clicked for a moment as the boosters jettisoned themselves and were left behind. Their formation loosened up as their Cobras slowed from the boosters' speed.

"The fleet is six minutes from the jump point," said Midnight. "Making my shield run now." He sped away from the rest of the group and headed for the fleet killer.

"See you on the other side, Midnight," said Bitch as she and Princess broke formation and headed right for the nearest Bug Corvette. Tracer zoomed about and made a straight run at a Skate cluster. Chameleon opened fire on a Moray. It hissed at her for a moment and then blew up as she continued forward after Midnight. Wabo maneuvered around and headed straight for the Carrier. Rapier, meanwhile, engaged a Ray. It sat there as he fired at it at will until it exploded. Its Remoras scattered and entered the fight.

Two Morays and a Manta were chasing down Midnight. Their laser fire was peppering his rear shields, so he routed power to keep them up and kept going. Chameleon zoomed in and fired heavily on the Manta. It broke its pursuit of Midnight to evade and came about on Chameleon while the two Morays continued to chase Midnight. Tracer pulled away first in his game of chicken with the Skate cluster. However, he quickly recovered and opened fire, making the Skate pull away. Elsewhere, the Corvette was on its last legs. One final missile impact from Bitch and it exploded with a great fury. Rapier opened fire on a Moray with an infrared missile. It tried to dodge and decoy it away, but the missile impacted on its ventral aft and blew it to pieces.

Midnight opened fire upon the shield generators of the Fleet Killer. Its turrets turned on him and the sky lit up with laser fire. He felt his Cobra rock as it was hit repeatedly. Still, he got its shields down and made a break for safety. Chameleon switched to her light torpedoes and began her lock on the Bridge of the Fleet Killer. Midnight hit his afterburners and headed for the Carrier. Wabo opened fire on a few Morays to clear Midnight a path. They scrambled out of the way and Midnight was able to get through.

Tracer lit up the Skate cluster and destroyed one of its pieces. He continued firing on it as it separated and took out a second piece before it could get away from him. Rapier zoomed in seconds later and fired upon the last piece. It returned fire for a brief moment, then was destroyed. "How we doing, Midnight?" Rapier asked.

"Slowly, but surely," Midnight replied. "Three minutes left. We might not make it."

"We'll make it," interrupted Princess. "Don't think negatively."

Chameleon's second light torpedo was on its way towards the bridge of the Fleet Killer. She held her breath as it got closer and closer. Then the bridge shook violently and a bug's voice came up on the visual COMM to curse at her before dying. The entire fleet, save the fighter craft, slowed noticeably. "They're thinking about turning back," said Rapier. "Keep hitting 'em!" Chameleon made a very wide arc and came about on the engines of the Fleet killer. Midnight shot out three turrets on the Carrier and then opened fire on its shield spikes. Once they were down he turned about and zoomed away at full throttle. Wabo moved in to target the engines of the Carrier.

"One to go," said Midnight. "Tracer, cover me."

"Copy that," said Tracer. He broke off his attack against a Manta and headed for the Battleship.

Chameleon fired her second light torpedo at the Fleet Killer's engines. It shook violently at the impact and multiple explosions could be seen occurring all over the ship. "YES!" Chameleon shouted.

Princess launched a missile to kill the second Corvette. It hissed and cursed at her as it broke up. "That's what you all say when you die," she said with a smile. She and Bitch came about to engage the rest of the fighters. Then, out of nowhere, a jump opened right on top of them and a squadron of Devil Ray Aces appeared.

"Oh shit!" said Princess. The Devil Rays moved in fast to engage.

"Where'd these guys come from?" asked Wabo. "And how come we had no advanced warning?"

"It's not over yet," said Chameleon.

"What?" said Wabo.

"Look," said Chameleon. Just as she said that, two more jump points opened and a squadron of Devil Ray Aces appeared from each of them.

"Tracer, GO!" shouted Midnight as he took out the final shield spike on the Battleship. Then he turned about and headed for the Aces.

Rapier kicked in his full throttle and charged the Aces as well. "Wabo, how's that Carrier doing?" he asked.

"Firing my last torpedo now!" Wabo replied as he pushed the button to launch his fourth and final torpedo at the Carrier.

Chameleon got into position alongside Bitch and Princess and made a run for the Aces. "I make twenty-one Aces!" shouted Princess over the COMM. "This is gonna sting, a lot!"

The Aces zoomed all over, opening fire on everyone. Rapier launched a few decoys and returned fire on one of the Aces. Midnight did likewise. Tracer had to break off his torpedo run to engage two Aces. "Um, I think we're screwed," he said as he launched a couple of decoys.

"Not bloody likely," said Princess.

"Yeah," agreed Chameleon. "Over my dead body!" With that she lit up an Ace and caused him to pull away.

A missile struck Rapier on the port side and he listed. "Damn it!" he shouted.

Wabo fired on the Ace that hit Rapier to try and distract him. "Anyone else think we've been royally had?" he asked.

"I do," said Bitch as she blew up an Ace.

"I agree," said Tracer as he dodged a score of enemy fire.

"Here comes the Cavalry!" shouted Maestro over the COMM. A jump point opened and Charlie Wing emerged in a hail of fire. "Bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs. A whole lotta bugs." He launched a missile and blew up an Ace that was chasing Chameleon. Zero inverted and dove towards two Aces. He quickly blew one up with a missile and ripped into the second with his guns. Spyder dodged and weaved through the gunfire and launched a missile at an Ace. It shuddered and then exploded.

"Tracer, get back on that Battleship!" Rapier ordered.

"Aye, aye, sir," Tracer responded. "Can someone clear the road for me?"

"On it!" shouted Chameleon. She switched up to her Stormfire gun and lit up the skies with suppressant fire to deter the Aces away from Tracer.

Maestro and Zero teamed up and tagged an Ace while Princess ripped another apart with a missile. Tracer, meanwhile, launched his first torpedo and had to instantly break away to fend off an Ace. Midnight lit it up with gunfire and said, "Get those torpedoes delivered! We'll handle the Aces, don't worry." Tracer let out a big sigh and circled back towards his target. Midnight and Chameleon zoomed closer to and covered his run. Tracer let loose the second torpedo and watched as it zoomed towards its target. An audible sigh of relief escaped his lips over the COMM when the bridge of the Battleship exploded. He hit his full throttle and did a flyby of the battleship and turned about to make his run at the engines. Spyder intercepted another Ace before it could launch a missile on Tracer.

"Only eight of them left," said Bitch.

Tracer slowed down as his targeting computer began a lock. He held his breath until the computer beeped and he had fired. The torpedo hit true and the Battleship rocked. Tracer swung around to start his last torpedo run. Suddenly his shields lit up from fire from an Ace. Midnight and Chameleon attacked immediately and destroyed the Ace together. "Talk about close, guys," said Tracer.

"Sorry," said Chameleon. She watched as Tracer's last torpedo sped towards its target. When it impacted and the Battleship began to explode from within her face lit up. "Yes!"

Rapier, Zero, and Wabo mercilessly pummeled the last of the Aces with gunfire. It hissed something unintelligible as it exploded. Rapier lowered his head for a moment and exhaled heavy breaths. "You guys really pulled our fat from the fire," he said to Charlie Wing. "Thanks a million."

"Compliments of the Commodore," said Maestro.

"Omegas, form on my wing and let's get home," said Rapier.

"I never want to do that again," said Tracer. "Ever."

"First round's on me all," said Wabo.

Everyone formed up and headed back to the _Palau_. None of them saw one last jump point open and a single fighter emerge. It circled about for a few moments, surveying the carnage. Then it let out a piercing shriek of hate and despair and disappeared again inside another jump point.

* * *

"This is Omega Squadron requesting permission to come on home," said Rapier.

Maniac's face came up on the COMM and he spoke, "Permission granted. C'mon home, all of you."

Charlie Wing throttled back to allow the Omegas to land first. Rapier flew into the hangar bay first and set down. Once he had shutdown his Cobra, he removed his helmet and set it on his knees. Then he rested his forehead on his helmet and closed his eyes. "We did it," he said out loud, his voice choked up with emotion. "And we all came home."

The others had gotten out of their Cobras and were gathering about Rapier's. Chameleon saw Maestro land and ran over to greet him when he got out of his Vampire. She almost knocked him off of his feet when she jumped into his arms, wrapped her arms about his neck, and kissed him very deeply. Everyone gave Maestro a cheer when they saw that. Rapier, meanwhile, wiped his eyes and calmed down enough to not get anyone suspicious. Then he opened his cockpit hatch and descended the ladder. He was instantly greeted by the others with hugs and pats on the back. Maniac smiled from where he was standing next to Anderson and Drake. "I told you they could do it," he said to her quietly. Drake cast him a sideways glance, took a deep breath, and nodded her head in agreement.

Omega Squadron and Charlie Wing approached them arm-in-arm. They stopped in front of Maniac and Drake and saluted. Drake looked thoughtful for a moment then looked Rapier in the eyes. "Very well done," she said to him.

"Thank you, ma'am," Rapier said. Drake smiled and walked away with Anderson.

Maniac walked up and patted Rapier on the shoulder. "Congratulations," he said. "I've put you and your whole Squadron in for the ConFed Flying Cross and Medal of Valor. I've also got the privilege of informing you and your whole Squadron that you all have been promoted to 1st Lieutenants."

"Thank you, sir," said Rapier. "But we couldn't have done it without Charlie Wing. I think they deserve a lot of the praise as well."

Maniac grinned and nodded, especially when he saw that all of the Omegas were in agreement with him. "I thought you might feel that way," he said. "Major Garrett, you and your Wing will be put in for the same medals and honors that Omega Squadron has been recommended for."

Maestro smiled and saluted both Maniac and Rapier. "Okay, okay," interrupted Wabo. "Enough of this stuff. Let's go to pilot country and get drunk!"

"Amen to that," said Rapier as everyone walked off together to go to pilot country to celebrate the success of the mission.

**To be continued…**


	14. Dreams

**Dreams**

_**Ten years ago:**_

Commodore Christopher Blair hung suspended in the air inside a bug nest. Slime covered most of him. He shivered despite the fact that the temperature was well above comfortable limits for a human being. "What do you want from me?" he demanded.

_"You are the one who shall destroy all those who oppose us! The Nephilim!"_

"No! Never!"

_"You cannot escape your destiny! You are war! You are destruction!"_

"I won't do it! NO!"

_"It is useless to resist us!"_

Images ran through Blair's mind at the speed of light. Images of the Bugs destroying both Humans and Kilrathi. He saw himself at the controls, pushing the buttons, firing the weapons, and killing those he loved and cared for.

_"This is your destiny, this is your fate!"_

Blair was almost broken with grief.

_"You were born to destroy both of them. It is unavoidable."_

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

"Why are you doing this, Blair?" asked Maniac.

"Billions of human lives will be lost if I don't." said Blair. "I have to get to that tower so Casey can collapse that gate and prevent the Nephilim from succeeding at their plan. This is how it has to be. It's the only way."

"Killing yourself is not a solution," snapped Maniac. "There has to be another way."

"No, there isn't. Once the tower is disabled I won't have enough time to get out before Casey blasts it."

"Damn you! You always have to be the hero!"

"It's who I am. It's who you are. Todd, you're the best wingman I've ever had, and the best friend I've ever had. But my time has come. And this is where we part ways."

* * *

_**(Shortly after the destruction of the Gate)**_

_"We knew you would return to us! Now it is time to prepare you for your destiny!"_

"No! What have I done?"

* * *

The new Bug hissed as it awoke. Its mandibles clicked loudly as it stood from its resting-place. It threw back its head and let out a cry of pure and utter despair.

**To be continued…**


	15. Enemy Inbound

**Enemy Inbound**

Maniac awoke the next morning with a terrible hangover. To make matters worse, his COMM was beeping. He groaned for a bit and rolled over to answer his COMM. "What?" he said.

"Sir, we have telemetry coming back from our other SWACS," said Anderson. "You better get up here on the double."

"On my way," groaned Maniac. He shut his COMM off and went back to sleep. His COMM beeped again. "WHAT!" he shouted.

"Don't go back to sleep, sir," said Anderson. "This is extremely urgent."

Maniac swore profusely under his breath as he got up and got dressed. As he left his quarters, he grabbed the first person he saw by the shirt and pulled him to his face. "Go to the mess hall, get two cups of black coffee, and bring them to me on the Bridge," he said.

The random personnel member just nodded his head repeatedly. "Um, yes, sir," he stammered and ran off to get Maniac his coffee.

"I love having the authority to push people around," Maniac said with a chuckle as he headed for the lift to the Bridge. When he got there, everyone was scrambling about like chickens without heads. "I miss something?"

Anderson motioned him over to the console he was sitting at and pointed towards the screen. "Look at this, sir," he said.

Maniac looked at it for a moment and then shrugged. "What am I looking at?" he asked.

"It's the retaliation for yesterday," said Drake from the door.

"The what?" Maniac said spinning around.

"The retaliation for Omega Squadron's hitting that carrier group," Drake said slower.

"Ah," said Maniac looking behind Drake. "My coffee's here." He pushed passed an indignant Drake and took his two cups of coffee from the crewman. The crewman slipped off quickly before Maniac could order him to do anything else.

Drake just looked on as Maniac chugged both cups of coffee. "You done?" she asked.

"Just about," said Maniac, who then let out a large belch. "Now, I'm done."

"Good," said Drake. "This is the situation. We have two Corvettes and fifty fighters of various types inbound."

Maniac almost choked up his coffee. "Did you say fifty fighters?"

"Yes, and that new fighter is among them."

"How soon will they get here?"

"Just under three hours," said Anderson from his console.

"Well, then we scramble our fighters to take them ship-to-ship," said Maniac. "What is the big deal here?"

"For starters," said Drake. "We only have forty-seven pilots remaining. Of those forty-seven, three are with the SWACS, which has plotted an alternate route to get back to us. They'll return in five hours. That leaves us with forty-four pilots. Of those there are only fourteen currently on duty. The rest are either asleep or relaxing in pilot country."

"Then we wake everyone up!" shouted Maniac. He walked over to the squawk and flipped it on. "This is Commodore Marshall to all hands. We have major enemy inbound. All pilots are to be flight-ready by the time they get within range. This applies to ALL pilots, not just those on duty. So for everyone in pilot country, the bar is officially closed until further notice. Commodore Marshall out." Maniac turned around and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" demanded Drake.

"I'm getting suited up and I'm going out with the rest of the pilots," he said.

"Oh, no you're not!" said Drake. "You haven't flown in years, and you don't have medical clearance."

"I'm clearing myself," replied Maniac.

"Do I have to pull rank?" threatened Drake.

"Shove it, Commander. I'm going. If you want to file yet another official protest do so. But right now get the hell out of my way."

Drake stood there and watched him go. Silently she turned her head to look at Anderson. He just shrugged and turned back towards his console.

Maniac stormed through the pilot deck. He pushed open door after door, sometimes opening the door to the rooms of a few of the female pilots, who screamed. When at last he found Maestro's room, he shook the bunk to get him awake.

"Hey, buzz off, will ya!" he said from under the blanket.

"Maestro, get up!" ordered Maniac. "You're flying on my wing. Kiss Chameleon goodbye and tell her you'll see her later. C'mon, get up!" Chameleon stuck her head out from under the blanket to see what was going on.

"I miss something?" she asked.

"Yeah, sweetheart," said Maniac. "Time to turn and burn!" With that he stormed off to find Zero and Spyder.

* * *

The Omegas assembled in the mess for breakfast. They were all busy gulping down coffee to either try and sober up or get more awake. Maniac stormed in with Maestro, Zero, and Spyder all in tow and marched right up to their table. "You guys are to take that Ace down at all costs," he said to them. They all looked at him like stunned sheep. "Am I speaking Kilrathi? I said you guys are taking down that Ace."

"Yes, sir," they all managed to respond. Maniac marched off to continue his surge of whatever it was that he was on to motivate him so. The Omegas stared at one another blankly for a few moments. Then they scrambled off and hurried to the hangar bay. Midnight sprinted to where the Cobras were docked. Once there, he moved all about his fighter, looking thoughtful. The others caught up to him and looked to see what he was doing.

"What in the hell are you doing?" asked Bitch.

"Thinking," Midnight replied.

"About what?" asked Tracer.

"Ssssh, just shut up for a few moments and let me think."

Rapier looked at those on his wing. Though they already had their game faces on, he could see that they were all a bit rattled. He looked over to the Cobras they had used to take down the fleet. They were beat to hell and the maintenance people were busy hammering and welding them back together. The Cobras they were about to use for the mission looked brand new by comparison. Midnight had his eyes closed and his hand on the side panel of his Cobra. A maintenance tech dropped one of his tools and Midnight snapped out of his contemplation. "I can't think of anything that'll save us this time," he said.

"I got an idea," said Bitch.

"Let's hear it," said Rapier.

"Just engage 'em ship-to-ship and kill every last one that dares get in your face," she said.

"I hear that," said Tracer. Rapier smiled, as he liked that idea too.

"And it wouldn't be too hard to do either," said Bitch. "They got fifty, we got forty four."

"Forty-five," said Maniac from behind them. "I'm going out as well."

"Sir, is that a good idea?" asked Chameleon.

"Nope," said Maniac. "But I'm going to do it anyway."

* * *

It was now one hour until the Bug fighters would get within range of the _Palau_. Midnight was sitting in his Cobra, thinking. Rapier was, likewise, doing the same in his Cobra. The rest of the Omegas were sitting down playing poker and waiting. Tracer popped his gum as he laid down his cards. Maestro came over behind Chameleon and wrapped his arms around her. Bitch stood up and began pacing.

"Sit down," said Princess. "You'll wear a hole in the deck."

"Why are we just sitting here?" Bitch asked.

"Two reasons," said Wabo. "The first is that the _Palau_ is their target."

"Duh," said Bitch.

"Let me finish a thought before you criticize," said Wabo. Bitch just put her hands up to concede to him. "The enemy fighters, especially at this range, can take steps to avoid meeting our fighters if we go out to meet them now. Thus the _Palau_ would be defenseless, or wouldn't have enough fighters remaining behind to fend off the attack. The second reason sounds cheesy, but it's true."

"Well, what is it?" asked Bitch.

"Our chances for success go up by having the _Palau_'s guns shooting at the enemy, too." he said.

"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard," said Princess.

"I didn't say I thought it was a smart move," said Wabo. "I just said our chances improve."

Tracer popped his gum again joined the conversation. "Regardless, this is going to be a messy battle. A lot of us won't be coming home."

Everyone lowered their heads at Tracer's sudden insightful, if not blindingly obvious statement.

"C'mon," said Wabo. "Let's get back to the game."

Everyone sat back down to play a few more hands. Inside his Cobra, Rapier began to pray. "Merciful Father, we sit now on the brink of oblivion. I know that many of those who will be going out to face the darkness will not return. I want you to know that I am not asking for my life. But rather, I am offering it up in exchange for those in my Squadron. They are more to me than just my friends and shipmates. They are my family. If you have to take anyone today, please let it be me instead of one of them. Amen."

**To be continued…**


	16. Save the Last Dance

**Save the Last Dance**

"Attention all pilots. The enemy fighters are now on long range. Get to your fighters on the double!"

"It's time," said Rapier. The Omegas set to work getting ready for launch. One-by-one, they were picked up by the crane and carried to the drop bay. Once launched they formed up on Rapier's wing. "Okay, everyone. You all know the drill."

"Roger, Omega Leader," said Bitch.

"Copy that," said Tracer.

"Princess, have you found our Ace yet?" asked Rapier.

"He's in the middle of pack," responded Princess. "He has two Devil Rays flying on his wing."

"Thank you," said Rapier.

"My pleasure, sweetie," said Princess.

Rapier thought to himself while they flew towards the oncoming Bug fighters. After careful consideration Rapier turned on his COMM to address the rest of the Omegas. "Okay, this is how it's going to go down. Tracer, you and Wabo are on his port wingman. Princess, you and Bitch are on his starboard wingman. Midnight, Chameleon, and I will engage the Ace himself. Any questions?"

"Yeah," said Wabo. "You buying the first round when we get back?"

"If we live through this, sure," said Rapier.

"Cool beans," said Chameleon.

Silently they moved about in their formation to prepare to engage their proper targets. "Distance, 75,000 meters and closing," announced Princess to the others. Silently they all waited for her next update. She looked at her instruments and watched intently as the distance between them continued to diminish. When at last they had reached formation-breaking distance she signaled them again. "Distance now 35,000 meters."

"Okay everyone," said Rapier. "Break up and engage."

Tracer and Wabo spun away from the formation first. "Moving to engage enemy, Omega Leader," said Tracer. "Wabo, you're on my wing."

"Roger that, Tracer," said Wabo.

Princess and Bitch did a lateral move and headed for their target. "Omega Leader, this is Bitch," said Bitch. "Moving to engage enemy. Princess, you're on my eight."

"Copy that, Bitch," replied Princess. "You have the lead."

Rapier turned to look out the side window of his cockpit. "Midnight, stay on my nine," he said.

"Roger, Omega Leader," said Midnight.

"Chameleon," said Rapier. "Stay on my three and above."

"Copy that, Omega Leader," said Chameleon. "Just don't hog the shots."

"Wouldn't dream of it," replied Rapier.

The Ace sped towards the oncoming Omega Squadron with his two wingmen right behind him. It looked at its controls and saw that it was on a collision course with the Rapier's Cobra. It switched on its COMM and let out that piercing scream. Most pilots instinctively moved their hands to their ears to try and block the noise.

"What the HELL was THAT?" said Tracer to the rest of the Omegas.

"I think it's either pissed or REALLY unhappy," replied Wabo.

"Gee, ya think?" said Bitch.

Rapier and Midnight switched to their Infrared Missiles and tried to get a lock on the Ace. It let out another scream and buzzed passed all three of them before they could do anything. "Damn, that thing is fast," said Chameleon as she came about to pursue. The Ace's wingmen broke off from the Ace's wing and headed in their own directions. Tracer and Wabo moved to pursue their target while Princess and Bitch pursued theirs. Rapier's missile lock alarm sounded suddenly, so he banked hard right, and released a decoy.

"That was too close," he said. "Where is he?"

"I can't see him," said Chameleon.

"I got him," said Midnight.

Tracer and Wabo hit full throttle and chased the Devil Ray. It moved about a lot, preventing any missile lock from being possible. "He's heading for his own Corvettes," said Wabo. "Be careful of their fire."

"Copy that, Wabo," said Tracer.

Elsewhere, Bitch and Princess's Devil Ray was also headed for the Corvettes, just from a different angle.

Rapier and Chameleon followed Midnight as he pursued the Ace. It was literally running circles around their Cobras. "I want to meet the guy who designed that ship," said Chameleon. "C'mere and get squashed BUG!"

The COMM crackled for a bit then the Ace spoke, "Put up or shut up, Chameleon."

All of the Omegas got wide-eyed at the same instant. "_Palau_, did you get that?" asked Rapier.

"Affirmative, Rapier," said Anderson.

"What's going on?" said Chameleon.

"A COMM trick," said Midnight. "Everyone, get focused!"

Elsewhere, the other ConFed pilots had their hands full with the Bugs. Casey let loose a missile and blew a Manta in half. "Here's some blackness for ya!" he said.

"Yoo-hoo, Mr. Ugly!" said Maestro as he hammered a Moray with his guns.

Maniac pulled the trigger and shot down a Moray with ease. "I've still got it," he said to himself.

Midnight was chasing down the Ace. His gunfire lit up the night sky as he tried to score a hit. However, the Ace was just too good and too fast. Suddenly, Chameleon flew passed him with her afterburners locked and came right up on the Ace. He dodged and she followed. She switched to her full guns and fired on the Ace. He dodged most of her fire and she switched to her friend or foe missiles.

Wabo and Tracer were almost within missile range of the Devil Ray. It was definitely headed between the two Corvettes. Wabo fired his guns to try and dissuade it away from its current course, but the Devil Ray maintained its path. Tracer kicked in his afterburners and got barely within Infrared Missile range. He fired once he had a lock, but the Devil Ray popped a decoy and the missile was distracted.

Bitch and Princess had gotten within firing range of their Devil Ray and were firing their guns. The Devil Ray was rapidly losing its shields, but would not stop from heading towards the Corvettes. It would dodge and weave, but its flight-path was still heading for the Corvettes.

Zero and Spyder broke off their engagements to pursue a few Mantas that had broken through the wall of defense and were headed for the _Palau_. Zero locked on a missile and let it fly. The Manta deployed a decoy, but the missile impacted its aft anyway. The Manta was very badly damaged, but was still flying. Spyder hammered the rear shields of his Manta with his guns. The Bug cursed at him and swerved about, trying to lose him.

Chameleon fired her missile and it sped towards the Ace. To her surprise, the missile actually impacted the port side of the Ace's ship. However, to her dismay, it was not destroyed by the missile. "You're going to pay for that, Chameleon," the Ace said to her. Then it laughed out loud at her. "You're going home in a box."

Through all the COMM chatter and trash-talk Maniac heard the Ace's threat. He knew instantly that it was no COMM trick. That was really him. "Blair?" he said. "Chameleon, what's your location?"

"No time to talk, Commodore," said Chameleon as she dodged the return gunfire from the Ace. She unlocked her afterburners to try and save some fuel. The Ace continued to fire on her with his guns. Fortunately she was able to dodge most of his fire. "Hey, are you two guys sleeping? Get this asshole off of me!"

Midnight opened fire on the Ace and hit his aft side. The Ace just let out his piercing scream and broke off pursuit of Chameleon.

Wabo and Tracer's missile lock alarms sounded and they had to temporarily break off pursuit from the Devil Ray as they launched decoys. "Tracer, the incoming fire from the Corvettes is too much, we have to break off contact," said Wabo.

"Give me a few more seconds," said Tracer. "I can nail him."

"Don't risk it!" said Wabo. "That turret fire will chew us up and spit us out."

"I can handle it!" shouted Tracer.

Bitch had to break pursuit of the Devil Ray to shake two Skates she had picked up. Princess was capable of keeping up the pursuit. "Eat missile, Bug!" she shouted into her COMM as she fired. The missile hit it in the aft and the Devil Ray shook violently. It cursed and swore and it was very evident that its ship was almost done.

Zero shot down his Manta and it cursed and swore at him as it blew up. Spyder's Manta fired a torpedo at the _Palau_ and broke off its run. Shortly after, Spyder struck the Manta with a missile and it was destroyed. Fortunately, the torpedo was destroyed by the _Palau_'s heavy turret fire before it had the chance to strike its target. Spyder let out a strong sigh of relief and returned to the dog fighting.

Rapier finally destroyed the two Morays that had caused him to have to break off his pursuit of the Ace. He kicked in his afterburners and sped towards Midnight, Chameleon, and the Ace.

The Ace launched a missile at Midnight. Due to their close range, Midnight's decoy did not fool the missile and his starboard bow was hit very hard. He had to break contact for an instant to try and recover. Chameleon fired another friend or foe at the Ace, but his decoy distracted it. The Ace broke away from Midnight and maneuvered about. "Chameleon, where were we?" the Ace said.

"What's your hard-on for me all about?" she said back to it. The Ace did not say anything in return, but simply fired a missile that impacted on her aft port. "Ouch!"

Wabo broke off pursuit to engage one of the Corvettes. Tracer continued forward. His Devil Ray entered the gauntlet between the two Corvettes. "You're not getting away from me, bug!" he said and charged forward into the gauntlet, firing his guns as he went.

Bitch circled around and began pounding the other Corvette. Princess was able to continue her pursuit of her Devil Ray. The both of them were about to enter the gauntlet from underneath the two Corvettes. The Devil Ray turned slightly and suddenly hit its afterburners.

Rapier was almost on the Ace, but he could not stop it as it opened fire on Chameleon with its guns. Its fire was hitting her hull directly and her cockpit shook violently. "I can't stay with you guys," she said. "Gotta bail." With that she pushed the ejector button and her escape pod flew away as her Cobra broke up. The Bug screamed out in hate over having been robbed of a kill.

Maniac was homing in on the Ace's location. Unfortunately, he found that he had to fight his way through heavy contacts to do so. Bugs were flying all around and occasionally being blown up by a ConFed pilot or two. ConFed pilots were dropping left and right as well. Fortunately, two out of every three was able to eject in time. "Maniac to the _Palau_," he said.

"Go ahead, Commodore," said Anderson.

"We really need you to launch a few SAR's and get these ejected pilots back inside," said Maniac.

"Signaling the SAR to launch now, Commodore," said Anderson. "Just keep those enemy fighters off of it as it does so."

"Will do," said Maniac. He sighed audibly over having to change his plans. But he knew that protecting the SAR was more important than finding out what was up with that Ace.

Anderson had two SAR's launch to begin picking up the ejected ConFed pilots.

The Ace rammed Chameleon's escape pod. She tumbled through space and the Ace screamed again. "Time to have some fun!" it said.

"Not if I can help it!" shouted Rapier. He opened fired with his full guns and launched a missile. The Ace dodged and flew away from Chameleon to avoid the missile. It screamed again.

The Devil Ray that Princess was chasing down had turned again and aimed straight for Tracer. Princess hit her COMM. "Tracer, bank hard port!" she screamed into the COMM. Before Tracer could do anything, the Devil Ray opened fire on Tracer's ventral side and rammed right into his bow. It exploded with a great fury and sent Tracer spinning out of control. His bow was smashed and his Cobra began to leak badly.

"Shit!" he yelled as he tried to reach for his eject button. The gunfire from the turrets began hitting him hard. Before he was able to depress the eject button, his Cobra exploded and he was gone.

"Tracer!" screamed Princess. "NO! Tracer!"

The world stopped for the Omegas. Their minds blanked and all they could think of was that Tracer was dead. Drake stood on the Bridge with tears in her eyes. Rapier recovered first and turned on his COMM. "Everyone, back on the clock!" he ordered. The Ace capitalized on their momentary pause and slammed a missile and a lot of gunfire into Rapier's side.

"I'm going to kill every last one of you Omegas!" the Ace threatened. Midnight came back into the fray after fighting off two Lampreys to fire his guns at the Ace. The Ace screamed and returned fire on Midnight.

One of the SAR's was being hammered hard by the Bugs. Casey and Stiletto managed to shoo them away long enough for the SAR to pick up the last Pilot that it could before heading back. They escorted it until it was well within the _Palau_'s protective cover fire. Then they returned to the fight. Maniac and Maestro were flying escort with the other SAR and they were rapidly approaching Chameleon's escape pod. "Hold on, baby," Maestro said to Chameleon.

Princess had regained her senses and was tearing off after the other Devil Ray. Wabo and Bitch finished off the two Corvettes and had to zoom away as two Skate clusters tore into their Cobras with their laser fire. The Devil Ray swung back and opened fire on Princess's Cobra. She turned away and the Devil Ray sped passed her. She came about and returned fire. The Devil Ray cursed and jeered her and she increased her speed. Then, suddenly she was blind-sided by two Mantas from each side. "Son of a fucking bitch!" she shouted as she hit the eject button. Her escape pod tumbled through space for a few seconds until she came to a stop.

"Princess!" shouted Bitch. "Are you all right?"

"Shaken, but not stirred," replied Princess.

"My kind of woman," said Wabo.

"Can you guys keep that Devil Ray off of me?" asked Princess.

"As long as those damn Skate clusters don't get us first," said Wabo.

The Ace was playing with Midnight and Rapier. However, when he saw the SAR approach Chameleon's pod, he screamed and headed straight for her. By the time he got within range, the SAR was already beginning to pick her up. He screamed again, switched to his projectile gun, and opened fire on her pod.

Maestro sped over to the Ace and opened fire with his guns. "Get away from her, you piece of shit!" he yelled at the Ace. It was enough to get the Ace to stop firing and maneuver away.

"Come get some, Maestro," challenged the Ace.

"Blair?" Maniac said over the COMM. "Is that you Blair?"

There was silence from the Bug. Then it just turned about and headed back to strike at Rapier and Midnight head on. Maestro started to pursue, but Maniac signaled to him over the COMM. "No, you got to stay with your girl. I'll deal with Blair." With that he left Maestro to escort the SAR back to the _Palau_ while he chased the Ace.

Wabo and Bitch were being fired on by the Skate clusters and a Manta while the Devil Ray hovered over Princess's pod. They tried their best to get to Princess, but the Skates and the Manta were playing very good defense. The Devil Ray engaged its tractor beam and began to pull Princess's pod in. Princess began pushing a sequence of buttons on a side console. "Have a shot for me guys," she said. "I love you all."

Wabo and Bitch began firing at the Devil Ray as best they could. "No!" said Bitch. "We'll stop him. Just hang on!"

Princess kept pushing buttons. "See you guys on the flipside," she said as her pod was pulled into the belly of the Devil Ray. Bitch and Wabo kicked in their afterburners and sped away. Princess just looked out of the window at the Bugs that were walking towards her pod. "That's right wankers. This is how I spell relief." She pushed one final button and the whole bay lit up. Wabo and Bitch looked at their rearview cameras and saw the Devil Ray explode from within.

"When we get back to pilot country I'm getting very drunk," said Wabo, his voice choked up with emotion.

The Ace was chasing Rapier and firing at him just enough to keep him from trying to turn about to come back and fight. Midnight plotted an intercept course and came at the Ace hard. The Ace fired a missile at him and it slammed into his bow. Midnight's Cobra tumbled away as the Ace continued to pursue Rapier. Rapier could hear his missile lock alarm sound and he popped off a few decoys. Midnight regained control of his Cobra and sped back into the fight. His damage was very severe, but he knew that he had to stay in the fight to help his Wing Commander. He could see a missile from the Ace speeding towards Rapier and he locked on his afterburners. "Lieutenant Johnson, it has been the honor of my life to fly on your wing," he said to Rapier, but not over the COMM. He turned and headed towards Rapier's wing. Rapier's missile lock was still going off. He switched to his rearview camera and saw the missile getting closer. Then he saw Midnight barreling down upon him. His eyes got wide as he saw Midnight purposely put himself in front of the missile to take the hit. Rapier's alarm ceased and he saw Midnight spinning off. His COMM crackled and Midnight's face came up on the screen. "End all, be all," he said very calmly. Then his Cobra exploded and he was gone. He never even tried to eject.

Maniac had finally reached the engagement area where Rapier and the Ace were. "Blair? Blair!" he shouted to the Bug. The Bug heard Maniac's voice again and he screamed out in pain. Its fighter spun out of control. Its mind was filled with so many images. Images from his past. They came at him so fast his brain hurt and his soul felt a stab of pain. "I know that it's you, you stupid idiot. What have they done to you?"

Rapier locked onto the Bug with his last missile. "No!" ordered Maniac. "Not yet!"

"Christopher Blair is who I used to be," said the Ace as its fighter recovered. "But not anymore. They did this. The Nephilim. They turned me into one of them to make me kill the ones I loved. And it worked. At least it did until I heard your voice." The Bug let out a scream and turned about to face Maniac and Rapier.

"Commodore," said Rapier. "I don't know if I'll get this shot again."

"Don't fire, that's an order!" shouted Maniac.

"Let him kill me, Todd," said Blair. "It would be better for everyone this way."

Maniac got all choked up. Then he barrel-rolled away. "Do it, Rapier," he said.

"Oh, one last thing, Todd," said Blair. "Make sure you recover what's left of this ship when it's all over. You may find a few things that could be useful. I'm ready, Rapier."

Rapier pulled the trigger and let his missile fly. It struck Blair's fighter and exploded. The fighter sat there for an instant, shuddering. Then it exploded in a great white light. Rapier turned about and headed back to the _Palau_. "Omega Squadron, form on my wing," he said. Bitch and Wabo flew in and got into formation.

"I know that that wasn't easy for you, Rapier," said Bitch.

"You have no idea," said Rapier.

Other wings were flying into the hangar ahead of them. None of them could speak. When at last they had landed they just sat in their cockpits for a very long time just staring at their consoles. Then, one-by-one, they exited their Cobras and walked to the debriefing station. They couldn't even look each other in the eyes. Once they had debriefed they finally looked at one another and came together in a group hug.

* * *

Maestro rushed into the medical bay to see how Chameleon was doing. A medical officer stopped him. "How is she?" he asked. "I want to see her. Let me see her."

The medical officer took him aside. He let out a deep breath before speaking. "She's in a coma and in critical condition. When the bug shot at her escape pod, a few of the projectiles penetrated its hull and hit her in several vital areas. She was lucky that she was already in our tractor beam at the time because by the time we got to her she had lost a lot of blood. If she had had to wait, she wouldn't have made it."

"Will she recover?" Maestro asked.

"We don't know," said the medical officer. "We've currently got her on an IV and she's receiving blood transfusions to replenish what she's lost. She's also going to need a lot of surgery to repair the damage she's sustained. After that, all we can do is wait until she wakes up. That could be in a day, it could be in a week."

"Or it could be never," said Maestro.

**To be continued…**


	17. Epilogue

**Epilogue: Goodbye**

Maniac was looking over the wreckage of Blair's ship the next morning. He had found a black box in a side compartment and was having Anderson decode and decipher its contents. From what Drake and Anderson were able to discern of it already, it contained the locations and coordinates of every Nephilim Hive and shipyard.

Bitch, Wabo, and Rapier were sitting in the Medical bay next to Chameleon's bed. Bitch was holding her hand, her eyes red and swollen from crying. Rapier sat silently with his head down. Wabo had his Omega package out and had poured a shot into Tracer, Princess, and Midnight's shotglasses. He was working carefully and meticulously on sealing up their shotglasses with the liquor still inside.

"What are you doing?" asked Bitch.

"Making my own personal Drink for the Dead," replied Wabo.

"What for?" asked Rapier.

"So that when we drink a toast from now on, they're still drinking with us," said Wabo. "I know it sounds stupid."

"No, it's not stupid," said Maestro from behind Wabo at the door.

"Major Garrett," said Rapier standing.

"No, don't get up," said Maestro. "I just came in to be with her."

"What did Maniac say when you spoke with him?" asked Rapier.

"That we're headed back to Earth now," said Maestro. "He wants me to tell you that you're all being put in for Commendations and promotions."

"That's big of him," said Bitch.

Wabo set his stuff down and looked up. "I get the feeling that certain key details of our whole mission will be left out of the final reports," he said.

"Maniac did mention something to that effect," agreed Maestro. "He and Drake think it would be best to remember the Maverick as the hero of the Kilrathi War, not as some Bug who killed a lot of good pilots."

Everyone got silent for a moment and as they all looked around the room they could see in each other's eyes that they too agreed with Maniac and Drake.

* * *

Maniac, Drake, and all of the remaining pilots gathered together in the lower bay for the memorial service to those who had fallen on this tour. Everyone was in their dress uniforms and in formation by their squadron and rank. The three Omegas who were able to attend were in the row closest to the conveyor that moved all of the coffins to the air lock.

"Attention!" Maniac ordered. Everyone snapped to attention and faced forward to look out into space. Drake began to read the name, rank, and callsign of every pilot that had been lost as the long procession line of coffins moved towards the airlock. The last three names she called were those of Midnight, Princess, and Tracer.

Just as their coffins were beginning to pass by, Rapier spoke, "Omega Squadron! Eyes right!" Bitch, Wabo, and Rapier turned their heads in unison and saluted their fallen friends. Maniac smiled despite the seriousness of the situation. Once their coffins had passed, Rapier spoke again, "Omega Squadron! Eyes forward!" All three of them snapped back to attention with the rest of the formation so that they could watch and silently say goodbye to those they called friend.

**End.**


End file.
